OpenAI· Hardware· San Francisco and London, UK
Design Verification, Forward Deployed Engineering
Comp$162K – $302K
Classified Tasks (23)
Automate 0%Augment 52%Human-Only 48%
Augment (12)
AI assists, human decides
2 Help FDEs, Product, and Research teams understand how design verification work is done in practice
communication
3 Pressure-test AI-assisted verification ideas against real engineering workflows
analytical
5 Build team fluency in verification methodology, tooling, and trade-offs
leadership
7 Build and iterate production-grade AI systems for semiconductor customers
technical
9 Turn high-touch semiconductor deployments into repeatable solution patterns and technical playbooks
operational
10 Shape AI-assisted workflows for test generation, regression triage, debug, root-cause analysis, and coverage closure
technical
11 Curate evaluations with FDEs and customer SMEs, including golden tasks, labeled examples, rubrics, acceptance criteria, and realistic benchmarks grounded in solved issues and real engineering workflows
analytical
12 Build lightweight prototypes, evaluation harnesses, and tooling that validate opportunities and improve solution quality
technical
15 Define success criteria and acceptance criteria for verification solutions
analytical
16 Develop technical plans to address identified verification pain points
technical
20 Architect solution designs for customer verification deployments
technical
21 Develop prototypes that demonstrate verification solution value
technical
Human-Only (11)
Requires human judgment
1. 1 Serve as the design verification SME for semiconductor deployments, helping teams reason about verification workflows across block, subsystem, and SoC environments
technical
4 Raise the quality of solutions through deep domain judgment
technical
6 Partner directly with customers to shape deployment strategy
leadership
8 Drive technical workstreams across deployments
operational
13 Educate and mentor the broader FDE team on verification concepts, tooling, and methodology
leadership
14 Partner with FDEs during customer discovery and scoping to translate ambiguous pain points into clear solution hypotheses
communication
17 Support customer-facing technical conversations as a trusted advisor
communication
18 Engage credibly with technical leaders during customer interactions
communication
19 Take ownership of customer discovery activities
operational
22 Deploy production systems in customer environments
operational
23 Own and manage technical workstreams through delivery
operational
Job description
Design Verification, Forward Deployed Engineering | OpenAI Careers ## Design Verification, Forward Deployed Engineering Hardware - San Francisco and London, UK Apply now(opens in a new window) ## **About the Team** OpenAI’s Forward Deployed Engineering team partners with leading semiconductor companies to deploy production-grade AI systems across the entire chip design lifecycle: design, verification, and physical design. We operate at the intersection of customer delivery and core platform development, embedding deeply with customers to translate frontier model capabilities into systems that materially reduce design cycles, improve verification quality, and accelerate innovation. Our work turns early, high-touch deployments into reusable solution patterns, evaluation practices, and technical playbooks that scale across the semiconductor ecosystem. ## **About the Role** We are seeking an experienced Design Verification Engineer to join our semiconductor-focused Forward Deployed Engineering team. This is an IC role that will begin with a strong emphasis on design verification expertise, evaluation curation, and technical leverage across deployments, with the expectation that the person will grow into a broader Forward Deployed Engineering role over time. In the near term, you will serve as a senior technical SME for verification workflows: helping FDEs, Product, and Research teams understand how DV work is done in practice, pressure-testing AI-assisted verification ideas against real engineering workflows, and raising the quality of our solutions through deep domain judgment. You will help the broader team build fluency in verification methodology, tooling, and trade-offs. Over time, we expect this role to expand beyond SME support into broader FDE ownership: partnering directly with customers, shaping deployment strategy, building and iterating production-grade AI systems, driving technical workstreams, and helping turn high-touch semiconductor deployments into repeatable solutions. This is a strong fit for someone who brings deep design verification expertise today and is excited to grow into a customer-facing, systems-building, delivery-oriented FDE role. ## **In this role, you will:** * Serve as the design verification SME for semiconductor deployments, helping teams reason about verification workflows across block, subsystem, and SoC environments * Shape AI-assisted workflows for test generation, regression triage, debug, root-cause analysis, and coverage closure * Curate evaluations with FDEs and customer SMEs, including golden tasks, labeled examples, rubrics, acceptance criteria, and realistic benchmarks grounded in solved issues and real engineering workflows * Build lightweight prototypes, eval harnesses, and tooling that validate opportunities and improve solution quality * Educate and mentor the broader FDE team on verification concepts, tooling, and methodology so the org can engage semiconductor workflows with greater depth and confidence * Partner with FDEs during customer discovery and scoping to translate ambiguous pain points into clear solution hypotheses, success criteria, and technical plans * Support customer-facing technical conversations as a trusted advisor, engaging credibly with technical leaders * Progressively take on broader FDE responsibilities, including customer discovery, solution architecture, prototype development, production deployment, and ownership of technical workstreams ## **Minimum Qualifications:** * BS/MS in EE, CE, CS, or equivalent with 5+ years of experience in design verification for complex IP, subsystem, or SoC programs * Demonstrated success verifying complex hardware systems in industry-standard flows, with deep familiarity in block-, subsystem-, and/or top-level verification methodologies * Strong hands-on expertise in SystemVerilog, UVM, and common simulation/debug tools such as VCS, Questa, Verdi, or equivalent * St