Key skills
ASIC validationHardware testLab environmentBench bring-upDebuggingInstrumentationDigital systemsAnalog conceptsPython scriptingASIC bring-upFPGA bring-upSPII2CJTAGUARTOscilloscopesLogic analyzersPower suppliesTest automationData analysisData visualizationPythonCommunication
About this role
Block is a company focused on accelerating the transition to an open economy. They are seeking an ASIC Validation Engineer to work closely with ASIC designers and system engineers to debug issues and build test infrastructure for custom mining silicon design.
Responsibilities:
- Bring up new silicon on bench platforms, evaluation boards, and system hardware
- Debug issues across ASIC, board, firmware, and system interactions
- Develop bench tests, scripts, and tools to exercise silicon features and collect data
- Build and maintain test setups (lab automation, instrumentation, fixtures, scripts)
- Partner with ASIC designers to validate functionality and root-cause failures
- Work with system engineers to ensure silicon performs correctly in target system environments, including mining systems
- Generate and analyze data to support design decisions, characterization, and bring-up
- Create lightweight, reusable test workflows and documentation for the broader team
- Support early manufacturing efforts with practical validation and debug, as needed
- Travel up to 20% to the labs in Oakland, CA or Toronto, Canada
Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field
- 4+ years of experience in silicon validation, hardware test, or related roles
- Strong hands-on experience in a lab environment (bench bring-up, debugging, instrumentation)
- Solid understanding of digital systems and basic analog concepts
- Experience writing scripts or tools (Python preferred) for test and data analysis
- Comfortable debugging issues that span multiple layers (ASIC ↔ board ↔ system)
- Clear communication skills and ability to work closely with cross-functional teams
- Experience with ASIC or FPGA bring-up and validation
- Familiarity with common interfaces (SPI, I2C, JTAG, UART, etc.)
- Experience using lab equipment (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power supplies, etc.)
- Exposure to high-performance, power-dense systems (e.g., mining ASICs, accelerators, or similar)
- Experience building test automation or internal tooling
- Familiarity with data analysis and visualization
- Experience working with early silicon / first bring-up environments
- Exposure to manufacturing test or ATE
- Experience working on systems with tight power, thermal, and performance constraints