Principal Interconnect Design Engineer
Sifive· Semiconductors· Jul 3, 2026 · 4mo agoPosted 116 days ago
Santa Clara CA
In office
Full-time
Principal
$231K–$283K
Before you apply
Ghost Signal:
Open since July 3, 2026 — 116 days, and still accepting applications.
Job description
About SiFive
As the pioneers who introduced RISC-V to the world, SiFive is transforming the future of compute by bringing the limitless potential of RISC-V to the highest performance and most data-intensive applications in the world. SiFive’s unrivaled compute platforms are continuing to enable leading technology companies around the world to innovate, optimize and deliver the most advanced solutions of tomorrow across every market segment of chip design, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, automotive, data center, mobile, and consumer. With SiFive, the future of RISC-V has no limits.
At SiFive, we are always excited to connect with talented individuals, who are just as passionate about driving innovation and changing the world as we are.
Our constant innovation and ongoing success is down to our amazing teams of incredibly talented people, who collaborate and support each other to come up with truly groundbreaking ideas and solutions. Solutions that will have a huge impact on people s lives; making the world a better place, one processor at a time.
Are you ready?
To learn more about SiFive’s phenomenal success and to see why we have won the GSA’s prestigious Most Respected Private Company Award (for the fourth time!), check out our website and Glassdoor pages.
Job Description:
The Role:
SiFive is looking for a principal-level hardware engineer who is passionate about designing industry-leading CPU and interconnect IP to help drive the tidal wave of adoption of RISC-V as the architecture of choice for SOC designs across a broad variety of vertical applications. We’re creating massively customizable IP and improving time-to-market by designing hardware as highly-configurable generators. We leverage technology and ideas from the software industry to execute hardware design with the agility of software development.
We build and maintain multiple CPU lines, TileLink interconnects and other uncore/infrastructure IP using the Chisel hardware construction library embedded in the Scala language, and are seeking motivated individuals to enhance/evolve our existing IP as well as develop new IP.
The Challenge
Designing the best interconnect IP in the world, based on the revolutionary open RISC-V and TileLink architectures
Mastering the art of designing hardware as configurable generators in a domain-specific software language for elaborating circuits
W orking in a fast-paced dynamic environment to bring new hardware IP to market quickly, with high quality and exceptional performance
Responsibilities
Architect, design and implement an enhanced TileLink interconnect, cache controllers, protocol bridges, and other infrastructure/uncore logic as RTL generators in Chisel
Implement RTL generators such that elements self-configure to optimally connect to each other
Enhance future designs to provide higher performance, more efficient multi-core and multi-system coherence
Design extensive configurability in as a first-class consideration
Integrate new design content into SiFive’s Chisel/FIRRTL framework and contribute to improvements to that framework to enable automatic configuration/generation of documentation, verification testbenches and tests, and packaged software.
Perform initial sandbox verification, and work with design verification team to create and execute thorough verification test plans
Ensure that knowledge is shared via creation and maintenance of great documentation and participation in a culture of collaborative design
What you bring to the challenge
Knowledge of cache and cache coherency architectures and concepts
Experience with NoC or other interconnect fabrics
Familiarity with industry-standard bus protocols (AXI, AHB, APB, CHI, CXL, UCIe)
Ability to architect solutions to connect bus fabrics of disparate protocols
Strong software engineering skills/background, including:
Object-oriented, aspect-oriented, and particularly functional programming
Templated metaprogramming, in any language
Compiler infrastructures, particularly for domain-specific languages
Data modeling, particularly intermediate representations for optimizing or transforming compiler passes
Test-driven development, particularly ability to write adaptive unit tests
Proficiency with hardware (RTL) design in Verilog, System Verilog, or VHDL
Attention to detail and a focus on high-quality design
Ability to work well with others and a belief that engineering is a team sport
BS/MS in EE, CE, CS or a related technical discipline, or equivalent experience
Nice to have
Experience with Scala/Chisel, Bluespec, or some other language/DSL for expressing configurable hardware via software
Knowledge of RISC-V architecture
Experience with Git/Github, Jira, Confluence
Pay & Benefits
Consistent with SiFive values and applicable law, we provide the following information to promote pay transparency and equity. We have a market-based pay structure which varies by location. Please note that the base pay range is a guideline, and our compensation range reflects the cost of labor in the U.S. geographic market based on the location of the role. Pay within these ranges varies and depends on job-related knowledge, skills, and relevant work experience.
For candidates who receive and offer, the starting salary will vary based on various factors including, but not limited to, such qualifications as, skill level, competencies, and work location. The range provided may represent a candidate range and may not reflect the full range for an individual tenured employee.
Base Pay Range
$231,444.00-$282,876.00
In addition to base pay, this role may be eligible for variable/ incentive compensation and/ or equity. In addition, this role is eligible for a comprehensive, competitive benefits package which may include healthcare and retirement plans, paid time off, and more!
Additional Information:
This position requires a successful background and reference checks and satisfactory proof of your right to work in
United States of America
Any offer of employment for this position is also contingent on the Company verifying that you are a authorized for access to export-controlled technology under applicable export control laws or, if you are not already authorized, our ability to successfully obtain any necessary export license(s) or other approvals.
SiFive is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
As an E-Verify employer, we use this system to confirm the employment eligibility of all new hires in accordance with federal law. All applicants will be required to complete a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, upon hire. We do not use E-Verify to pre-screen job candidates and will comply with all E-Verify regulations.
California residents: please see our job candidate notice for more information on how we handle your personal information and your privacy rights: Privacy Policy Document .
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Benefits
Benefits detected in the listing.
Paid Time Off