Emulation Engineer: OpenAI

This role is within OpenAI’s Hardware organization, which develops silicon and system-level solutions specifically designed for the demands of advanced AI workloads. The team is responsible for building the next generation of AI-native silicon, working closely with software and research partners to co-design hardware that is tightly integrated with AI models.

About the Role
OpenAI is seeking an experienced Emulation Engineer to help accelerate the development and validation of its custom ML accelerators. You will be a critical bridge between design, verification, performance, and software teams, responsible for architecting hardware emulation platforms to enable early software development, system-level testing, and fast iteration cycles for next-generation AI silicon.

Responsibilities
Build and maintain pre-silicon emulation platforms using commercial emulators (e.g., Veloce, Palladium, ZeBu).

Work with RTL and DV teams to bring up and validate designs on emulation systems.

Develop transactors, models, and acceleration-aware testbenches to maximize throughput.

Enable fast and reliable software bring-up by integrating firmware and drivers with emulated hardware.

Partner with performance, software, and validation teams to root-cause bugs and optimize system behavior.

Support continuous regression infrastructure and automation for long-running, system-scale workloads.

Requirements
A BS/MS in EE/CE/CS or equivalent with 5+ years of experience in emulation or FPGA-based prototyping.

Deep familiarity with RTL design (SystemVerilog/VHDL), simulation, and emulation flows.

Experience with at least one major emulation platform (Palladium, Veloce, or ZeBu) and their toolchains.

Experience with building large-scale emulation systems and optimizing build reliability and performance.

Strong scripting skills (Python, Tcl, Shell) and experience building automation infrastructure.

Ability to debug complex HW/SW interactions and performance bottlenecks in large systems.

Experience in ML accelerator or SoC emulation environments is a plus.

Must be able to comply with U.S. export control laws and regulations.