Senior Software Engineer – AI for RTL Design & Formal Verification

Join Astera Labs' AppliedAI organization, where we're building the connectivity infrastructure that powers AI and cloud data centers. Our team sits at the intersection of digital and analog design, verification, and AI tooling, tackling the complexity of next-generation semiconductor products at the pace our industry demands. We're looking to develop and deploy AI-driven agents that accelerate RTL and physical design, static analysis, and formal verification workflows. The ideal candidate combines a strong ASIC and software engineering background with hands-on exposure to digital or analog design or verification, and is excited to apply LLMs and agentic systems to real chip design problems.

What You'll Be Doing

Design, develop, and deploy AI applications using LLMs, agentic frameworks, and related technologies to support RTL, physical and analog design, static/lint checking, and formal verification flows. Build infrastructure to deploy LLM-powered engineering assistants and multi-turn dialogue systems that help designers and verification engineers debug faster and close coverage sooner. Develop agentic AI solutions for tasks such as RTL rule and lint checking, RTL optimization,  bug triage, formal proof convergence, and static verification report analysis; fine-tune and integrate these solutions with existing CAD/EDA flows. Build and maintain design databases and dashboards that combine agentic and deterministic retrieval to surface relevant engineering data and speed up design closure. Collaborate closely with RTL design, DV, formal verification, and CAD/EDA teams to understand pain points and translate them into AI-assisted tooling.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's, Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science/Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• 4-10 years of industry experience in software engineering, with direct exposure to RTL design, static/lint verification, or formal verification methodologies.
• Proficiency in Python for rapid prototyping, with strong fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, and software engineering practices.
• Experience with LLMs, including fine-tuning, building multi-agent systems, RAG pipelines, and vector databases.
• Familiarity with RTL design languages (Verilog/SystemVerilog) and formal/static verification tools (e.g., JasperGold, VC Formal, or similar) is strongly preferred.
• Strong analytical, communication, and interpersonal skills, with a proven ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, cross-functional startup environment.
• A proactive, self-directed approach to problem-solving and comfort operating with ambiguity.

Ways to Stand Out

• Direct experience applying AI/ML techniques to EDA or CAD flow problems.
• Proficiency in modern software engineering practices, including version control, testing, and CI/CD.
• Experience with formal property verification, assertion-based verification (SVA), or static timing/lint tools.
• A track record of learning across disparate domains (AI/ML and hardware design) and combining them into novel engineering solutions.

Salary range is $160,500 to $200,000 depending on experience, level, and business need. This role may be eligible for discretionary bonus, incentives and benefits.