The USC Viterbi School of Engineering is among the top tier engineering schools in the world. It counts 191 full-time tenure-track faculty members, 79 full-time teaching faculty, and 40 full-time research faculty. Home to the Information Sciences Institute (ISI), the School has been the recipient of many national centers, including two National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centers, a Department of Energy EFRC (Energy Frontiers Research Center), and the Department of Homeland Security’s first University Center of Excellence, CREATE. Affiliated with the Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering, the Institute for Creative Technologies and the USC Stevens Center for Innovation, the School is the host of the NSF Innovation Node Los Angeles. Research expenditures exceed $200 million annually. The School has 32 National Academy of Engineering members and 2017 was awarded the ASEE President’s Award for its continuing efforts to “change the conversation” about engineering and develop a robust and diverse engineering pipeline.

The Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is one of Southern California's major research institutions. The department has 60 tenure/tenure-track faculty, 300 undergraduate students, more than 1200 master’s students, and more than 300 Ph.D. students. In the 2020 school year, research expenditures in the department exceeded $30M in direct costs. The department has received 4 Shannon Awards, 16 members of the National Academy of Engineering, and 39 recipients of the NSF Early Career Award.

Experienced Hardware engineer to collaborate with research teams of professors, graduate students and research staff. You are expected to understand the system-level design-requirements, system-plus-chip architecture and lead all aspects of the system-level design and validation effort with components of custom ASIC, FPGA and commercial semiconductor components. You will be in charge of all aspects of system-level implementation including embedded software/firmware, circuit design, design schematics, FPGA design, component selection, PCB layout, BOM creation, PCB design and submission to the Manufacturer.

This is a great opportunity to work with leading researchers, expand one’s skills and experience, and be part of a team that is at the forefront of technology innovation.

The position involves:

• System Design

Collaborating with System Architects, Chip Designer, and Software Engineers. Participating in Micro-architecture and code reviews. Writing and maintaining documentation and specifications Create detailed technical documentation including functional and design specifications, test procedures, etc. Creating specifications, design schemes, project functional blocks, correctly select parts and vendors, test equipment for new projects and modify/enhance existing designs Assisting with digital designs including IP blocks and DFT/DFD FPGA builds of IP and required functional blocks running through FPGA Xilinx/Alterra tools flows Develop, test, release, maintain and enhance low-level software to validate custom-IC and FPGA prototypes and validate functionality of sub-systems.

• FPGA Design

Design, development, and testing of complex FPGA designs with processor, DRAM, I/O, high-speed interface and other IP components Synthesis, Partitioning, Place and route and Timing closure of FPGA designs

• PCB Design

Wide knowledge of leading PCB Schematic and Physical design (OrCAD/Allegro tools), circuit design, and PCB structure. PCB Tape-out to Manufacturer Providing bring-up and debug support (including DFT/DFD and associated RCA) during first silicon bring-up

• Organizational Support

Establishing and maintaining the digital design flow using Cadence, Synopsys and Mentor tools (plus others as required). Maintaining all Cad tools and compatibility with various Foundry PDKs Creating software, scripts and other support technology to enable successful creation of the items above

Successful candidates will demonstrate an outstanding ability to think effectively, coupled with excellent technical depth and breadth that are supplemented with professional experience. They will have a demonstrable ability to define and execute independent research programs. Candidates with both theoretical and applied interests are encouraged to apply.

The annual base salary range for this position is $113,100 - $125,054. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope of responsibilities of the position, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum: Master’s Degree Electrical or Computer Engineering (Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education)

• 5+ years of professional experience in the technical areas listed below.

Demonstrable technical expertise in all the following technical areas:

• EE and Embedded software fundamentals, Electronic circuits and systems
• Analyze specifications at the architecture and micro-architecture level to identify design improvements
• PCB and FPGA (Xilinx/Altera) design flows and EDA methodologies
• PCB-level Schematic entry and layout tools (e.g Composer/Virtuoso from Cadence)
• PCB fabrication/assembly, board level bring-up, compatibility and reliability testing, and in-depth understanding of the PC industry
• PCB level/system level debugging Skilled in computer system architecture,
• RTL design and debug targeting FPGA (Xilinx/ Altera)
• Design Data path and Memory elements at high speed and multiple clock environments
• FPGA Design flows and EDA methodologies (Xilinx/Altera)
• Experience with Backend FPGA flow like Synthesis, Place and Route, Timing Closure
• Hands-on experience using and debugging designs with DRAM, PCIe interface, high-speed and general I/O interfaces, industry standard interconnect protocols
• System-level bringup and debug on simulation/emulation/prototyping platforms.
• Verilog/System Verilog or similar HDL/HVL, simulator and waveform debugging tools,C, TCL, Xilinx/Altera FPGA tools,
• Scripting languages such as PERL, Python, C/C++, Windows and Linux OS and the OS software stack
• Experience with lab equipment such as: logic, PCIe and network analyzers, Digital and Analog Oscilloscopes and arbitrary waveform generators (AWG’s)
• PC and operating system and applications knowledge is required
• Experience of collaborative research projects with partners in industry and academia is a plus.
• Hands-on experience with large-scale commercial ASIC projects is a plus.

NICE-TO-HAVE

• Knowledge of high-speed circuit design and voltage regular circuit design
• Familiarity with high-speed lab equipment, and Spectrum Analyzers is desirable
• DC to DC switching circuit design related experience
• Broad experience in small embedded systems, especially 8-bit and 16-bit micro-controllers
• Programming familiarity/background in embedded processor (ARM preferred)
• C/assembly language programming at the register level
• Programming familiarity/background in any of Visual Basic, Visual C++, or similar
• Applications programming language familiarity
• Comfortable with both Unix and Windows environments

SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

• Willingness and capacity to expand leadership and technical skills.
• Demonstrated ability to learn new things quickly and grow into new roles.
• Flexibility and ability to adapt quickly to new tasks/challenges.
• Strong cross-functional skills.
• Positive mindset, Team player.
• Ability and capacity to act as a mentor for team members.
• Excellent relationship skills.
• Excellent oral and written English language skills whether native or non-native speaker.
• Excellent presentation skills.

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About University of Southern California (USC)

USC is the leading private research university in Los Angeles—a global center for arts, technology and international business. With more than 47,500 students, we are located primarily in Los Angeles but also in various US and global satellite locations. As the largest private employer in Los Angeles, responsible for $8 billion annually in economic activity in the region, we offer the opportunity to work in a dynamic and diverse environment, in careers that span a broad spectrum of talents and skills across a variety of academic and professional schools and administrative units. As a USC employee and member of the Trojan Family—the faculty, staff, students, and alumni who make USC a great place to work—you will enjoy excellent benefits, including a variety of well-being programs designed to help individuals achieve work-life balance.

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