Clera logo

Senior Silicon Engineer

Clera

On-site
San Francisco, CA
Full-time
Senior
Staff
8+ yrs
$200k–$300kPosted 27m ago

Real job — pulled straight from Clera’s careers page · Verified October 3, 2026 · No reposts.

Job description

Clera is hiring a Senior Silicon Engineer — a full-time, based in San Francisco, CA role ($200k–$300k). Apply directly on Clera's careers page below.

Senior Silicon Engineer

Department: Engineering

Location: San Francisco

Employment Type: FullTime

About the Role

As a founding silicon team member at a well-funded AI accelerator startup, you will lead the full journey of a custom XPU from FPGA prototype through tapeout and bring-up. This is a high-ownership, high-impact role that sets technical direction across architecture, RTL, verification, and tooling while the silicon organization grows around you.

What You'll Do

  • Lead FPGA prototype development and optimization of the XPU, taking designs from specification to working silicon.

  • Design and review RTL destined for the first ASIC, ensuring clean microarchitecture and synthesizable code.

  • Build lint, simulation, synthesis, timing, and verification flows to support rapid iteration and tapeout readiness.

  • Make architecture decisions spanning compute datapaths, memory systems, on-chip interconnect, and control logic.

  • Drive the design through tapeout, bring-up, and delivery milestones, including critical-sprint periods.

  • Grow and mentor the silicon team as the company scales.

What We're Looking For

  • 8 or more years of hands-on digital design or silicon engineering experience building RTL, FPGA prototypes, or ASICs.

  • Proven ability to ship synthesizable SystemVerilog or Verilog in production silicon or FPGA designs.

  • End-to-end FPGA experience: RTL through synthesis, place-and-route, and deployment to working hardware.

  • Strong fundamentals in pipelining, clocks, resets, latency, throughput, and microarchitecture.

  • Fluency with simulation, linting, synthesis, SDC constraints, timing closure, and CDC verification flows.

  • Experience automating hardware flows using Python, Tcl, Make, Nix, or similar tools.

  • Background designing or optimizing AI accelerators or low-level AI kernel implementations.

  • Tapeout experience, high-speed interface design, formal verification, UVM, cocotb, firmware, or systems programming are strong advantages.

  • Self-directed, comfortable with ownership, and energized by fast-moving environments.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary range: $200,000 to $300,000 USD annually, plus equity. Visa sponsorship is available.

Location

Full-time, on-site in San Francisco, CA. This role is not remote or hybrid.

Get Senior Silicon Engineer jobs like this→

New roles from thousands of companies land hourly, straight from their careers pages. Get the freshest matches by email so you never miss one.

Email me new jobs
Curtiss-Wright logo

RF Hardware Engineer

$115k–$140kNewtown, PA
✓ From careers page· 7h ago
Innoflight logo

Digital Modem Design Engineer

$116k–$140kSan Diego, CA
✓ From careers page· 9h ago
Cisco logo

Tech Lead - Hardware / Embedded Engineer

$151k–$282kSanta Monica, CA
✓ From careers page· 9h ago
Cisco logo

ASIC Design Verification Technical Leader

$187k–$308kSan Jose, CA
✓ From careers page· 9h ago

Frequently asked questions

What is the salary for Senior Silicon Engineer at Clera?

The estimated salary range for Senior Silicon Engineer at Clera is $200,000 - $300,000 USD per year.

What skills are required for Senior Silicon Engineer at Clera?

The required skills for Senior Silicon Engineer at Clera include: FPGA, SystemVerilog, Verilog, Python.

What is the seniority level for Senior Silicon Engineer at Clera?

Senior Silicon Engineer at Clera is a Senior / Staff level position.

How do I apply for Senior Silicon Engineer at Clera?

You can view the full description and apply for Senior Silicon Engineer at Clera on EchoJobs: https://echojobs.io/job/clera-senior-silicon-engineer-da6uu.