DDR Memory Interface System Validation Lead Engineer

Location: San Jose, California, United States

Time Type: Full time

Job Description

Job Details:

Job Description:

About Altera

At Altera™, our independence as the world’s largest pure‑play FPGA solutions provider gives us the focus, speed, and agility to innovate without compromise. With more than four decades of industry‑leading FPGA expertise, our singular mission is to deliver the programmable technologies that help customers differentiate, innovate, and scale across rapidly evolving markets like AI, cloud, networking, and edge. As an independent company, we move faster, invest deeper, and partner more closely—empowering our teams to drive breakthrough innovation and shape the future of the FPGA industry.

About the Role

We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced DDR5 / LPDDR5 Memory Validation Engineer to join our Silicon and Platform Validation organization. In this role, you will drive validation, characterization, and debug activities for advanced DDR5 and LPDDR5 memory interfaces on next-generation FPGA devices.

You will work closely with architecture, silicon design, board design, firmware, signal integrity, and software teams to ensure industry-leading quality, reliability, performance, and interoperability across memory subsystems and high-speed I/O platforms.

This position offers the opportunity to work hands-on with cutting-edge memory technologies, advanced PHY architectures, and high-speed validation infrastructure while influencing future FPGA platform capabilities and validation methodologies.

Key Responsibilities

• Own DDR5 and LPDDR5 memory subsystem validation, including defining and executing validation strategies across multiple FPGA programs.

• Create, define, and develop comprehensive system-level validation environments and test suites for advanced memory interface validation.

• Perform pre-silicon and post-silicon functional and electrical validation of DDR5 and LPDDR5 controllers, PHYs, and associated high-speed interfaces.

• Develop and execute validation plans covering:

  • Memory initialization and training

  • Read/write functional validation

  • System margining and stress testing

  • Frequency scaling

  • Memory controller features validation

  • Stability and reliability validation

  • Error injection and recovery testing

• Perform timing characterization, compliance checks, interoperability testing, and performance validation according to JEDEC specifications.

• Analyze signal integrity and timing behavior for high-speed memory interfaces, including eye diagrams, jitter, and timing margins.

• Debug complex silicon, firmware, board-level, and system-level issues involving memory subsystems and PHY behavior.

• Collaborate with hardware board design teams on high-speed memory channel implementation, including:

  • Stack-up reviews

  • Routing strategies

  • SI/PI considerations

  • Memory topology optimization

  • Termination and power delivery schemes

• Review schematics, layouts, and board design guidelines for DDR5 and LPDDR5 implementations.

• Utilize industry-standard protocol analyzers, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and traffic generators for debug and characterization.

• Develop, standardize, and maintain validation methodologies, automation frameworks, and measurement flows to improve validation scalability and efficiency.

• Partner with silicon design, package, board, firmware, and software teams to drive root-cause analysis and issue resolution.

• Collaborate with pre-silicon validation teams to improve post-silicon coverage and future debug capabilities.

• Drive innovation in validation infrastructure, automation, and platform enablement to improve throughput and test coverage.

Salary Range

The pay range below is for Bay Area California only. Actual salary may vary based on a number of factors including job location, job-related knowledge, skills, experiences, trainings, etc. We also offer incentive opportunities that reward employees based on individual and company performance. 

$149,100 - $215,000 USD

We use artificial intelligence to screen, assess, or select applicants for the position. Applicants must be eligible for any required U.S. export authorizations.

#MD-1

Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or related field.

• Minimum of 8+ years of industry experience in memory subsystem validation, silicon validation, or high-speed interface validation.

Job Type:

Regular

Shift:

Shift 1 (United States of America)

Primary Location:

San Jose, California, United States

Additional Locations:

Posting Statement:

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, religious creed, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military and veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, gender, gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by local law, regulation, or ordinance.