Software Development Engineer II, Post Silicon Validation - Austin, Texas, United States
Originally posted 10 September 2026 by the employer.
About the role
This role involves validating machine learning accelerators that power AWS cloud computing infrastructure. Your work will span validation of the complete vertical stack including silicon, PCB, high-speed components, inter-system connections, and system-to-system interfaces.
What you'll do
- Develop comprehensive validation strategies and detailed test plans covering functional, performance, power, and stress testing.
- Execute complex test plans from RTL simulation and emulation environments through physical silicon validation.
- Conduct hands-on silicon bring-up and debug in the lab using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and protocol analyzers.
- Validate ML accelerator performance, accuracy, and reliability using real-world neural network workloads.
- Build test infrastructure, CI/CD, and automated regression frameworks to enable efficient validation at scale.
- Collaborate across architecture, design, firmware, and software teams to triage failures and drive root cause analysis.
What you'll need
- Strong programming skills (Python, Lua, C/C++, Rust, Go).
- A solid understanding of computer architecture.
- Experience with AWS services, cloud infrastructure, firmware development (BIOS, BMC, drivers).
- Validation experience in PCIe, HBM, GPUs, neural networks, and/or ML HW architecture, and/or CI/CD.
- Familiarity with the validation lifecycle from RTL simulation (SystemVerilog/UVM, VCS, Questa, Xcelium) and emulation (Palladium, Zebu, Veloce) through silicon failure analysis and debug.
This role has been open 35 days — well below the 63-day median for Post-Silicon Validation roles.
Post-Silicon Validation · Design Verification
|
Open roles in category
117
|
Median days open
63 d
|
Median salary
$185k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Amazon | All employers we track in this specialty (117 roles · 30 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 6 | 117 |
| Open roles in the wider Silicon Validation & Test family | 10 | 2224 · 112 employers |
| Median days open | 40 d | 63 d (−23 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $185k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 18 open roles · median 45 d
- AMD · 15 open roles · median 62 d
- NVIDIA · 15 open roles · median 69 d
- Graphcore · 10 open roles · median 120 d
- Amazon (this employer) · 6 open roles · median 39 d
- Micron Technology · 5 open roles · median 210 d
How we counted: 117 open Post-Silicon Validation (Design Verification) roles from 30 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 15 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Silicon Validation & Test family row. Figures refresh nightly.