Six Figure Work

Senior FPGA Prototyping Platform Engineer

NVIDIA

Company websitenvidia.com (NVIDIA, opens in new tab)

Base salary $168,000  to $310,500

Employer-published annual base salary, USD. Advertised base range in Santa Clara, CA

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  • LocationSanta Clara, CA
  • WorkplaceWorkplace not stated
  • Status at last checkSource accepting applications when checked
  • Last checked (1 h ago) · observed since

About this job

Are you passionate about FPGA prototyping? Are you interested in pushing the boundaries of innovation to make FPGA prototypes faster and more efficient? Can you work in a fast-paced environment that requires coordination between many teams across geographies and resolving sophisticated problems daily? If so, we are looking for hardworking engineers who will craft FPGA prototypes of our next generation GPUs and SOCs on standard FPGA prototyping platforms.

We are now looking for a Senior FPGA Prototyping Platform Engineer to join our Emulation team onsite in Santa Clara, CA.

What you'll be doing:

  • Build FPGA prototypes by taking the design through synthesis and place and route, analyzing timing and generating bitstreams.

  • Bring up the design on FPGA prototyping platforms involving hands-on lab debug with HW and SW debuggers.

  • Release the prototype to the customers and support them when they face problems.

  • Using HW diagnostics specific to Prototyping platforms to help isolate issues between HW platform, FPGA design programmed on to platform.

  • Good coordination with verification engineers and SW teams and Lab Technicians  will be needed to accomplish your tasks.

What we need to see:

  • BS (or equivalent experience) in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related fields with 7+ years of experience in FPGA prototyping, or MS with 5+ years of proven experience in FPGA prototyping.

  • Good understanding of FPGA prototyping hardware architecture, flows and tools.

  • Experience with hands-on FPGA prototyping lab tasks and working with or managing lab technicians in lab environment of medium to large scale.

  • Experience in backend flows of FPGA Prototyping - Synthesis, P&R and Timing closure, with emphasis on Synopsys Protocompiler and Xilinx Vivado.

  • Hands-on experience with lab FPGA debug methodologies, tools (Identify and/or ChipScope), and lab debug equipment (oscilloscopes, logic/protocol analyzers).

Ways to stand out from the crowd:

  • Experience with carrying out independent as well as collaborative debug tasks and ability to quickly triage and root-cause issues is a major plus.

  • Prior experience with prototyping (Synopsys HAPS or FPGA platforms) of a high-performance processor or SOC is a plus.

NVIDIA has continuously reinvented itself over two decades. Our invention of the GPU in 1999 sparked the growth of the PC gaming market, redefined modern computer graphics, and revolutionized parallel computing. More recently, GPU deep learning ignited modern AI — the next era of computing. NVIDIA is a “learning machine” that constantly evolves by adapting to new opportunities that are hard to solve, that only we can tackle, and that matter to the world. This is our life’s work, to amplify human imagination and intelligence. Make the choice to join us today!

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and other objective job-related factors. The expected base salary ranges for this position are:
168,000 USD – 264,500 USD for Level 4; and 196,000 USD – 310,500 USD for Level 5.

You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until November 3, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy. 

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

Source: NVIDIA on Workday · View original posting (opens in new tab)

Pay in context

This role's base floor ($168,000) is above 44% of the 4,289 Software Engineering roles in California listed on this site; 25 others list the same floor. Their median floor is $176,000; the middle half runs from $149,100 to $203,000.

Only jobs on this site count, and each one publishes a base salary of $100,000 or more, so this compares six-figure jobs with each other, not with the whole market. Computed Nov 7, 2026.

This range next to 6 other live NVIDIA roles with the nearest advertised base floor
Chart as a table
This range next to 6 other live NVIDIA roles with the nearest advertised base floor
RolePublished base
Senior FPGA Prototyping Platform Engineer (this listing)$168,000 - $310,500
L11 System Product Development Engineer$168,000 - $258,750
Senior Software Engineer, Network Visibility Platform - DGX Cloud$168K - $322K
Hardware Validation Procedures and Documentation Lead$168,000 - $258,750
Senior Software Engineer, Platform Engineering$168K - $322K
PhD Research Scientist, Fundamental Generative AI - New College Grad 2026$168,000 - $264,500
AI Engineering Manager - Finance$168K - $322K

Same $100K to $400K scale as every card. All NVIDIA roles · How to read the bar

Observed changes

  1. First observed on the employer's board
  2. Began meeting the published-salary criteria
Observed since
Employer-stated posting date
2026-10-30
Where this pay comes from

Location as the employer wrote it: US, CA, Santa Clara (Levels 4-5 combined)

168,000 USD – 264,500 USD for Level 4; and 196,000 USD – 310,500 USD for Level 5.

Method
Employer text, read with fixed rules and re-verified
Checked
Rule set
us-base-v2

The pay passage appears in the employer's own job text. Fixed, deterministic rules located it, and the passage below was checked against the stored copy of the posting.

What we verified

  • The pay figures come from the employer's own listing, quoted exactly above.
  • The pay is an annual base salary in US dollars with a minimum of at least $100,000.
  • The role was publicly listed on the employer's job board when last checked.

We do not verify what the employer will actually offer, whether the employer is still recruiting for the role, or anything beyond what the employer published. Full methodology.