Digital Design Engineer

Efficient is seeking a Digital Design Engineer to join our growing team. The Digital Design Engineer will contribute to the design, implementation, and verification of the world’s most energy-efficient, general-purpose processor.

This position is a unique opportunity to realize our product, work as a digital hardware designer with a highly interdisciplinary team, and help shape the future of Efficient’s technology.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and verify features from specification through synthesis
• Implement product features at the RTL-level targeting silicon implementation
• Implement product features at the RTL-level targeting FPGA emulation for verification
• Build unit testbench infrastructure to verify implemented features
• Design of memory systems and digital integration of memory macros, including SRAM, MRAM, and others
• Interface design components with external / vendor-provided IP
• Use industrial-strength digital design tools from RTL simulation through synthesis, which may include Cadence, Synopsys, Mentor / Siemens EDA, and ANSYS as necessary
• Provide comprehensive feature and integration documentation
• Interact with physical design and digital verification team for pre-silicon verification
• Work with physical design team to resolve RTL-level issues leading to DRC violations
• Work with compiler and embedded software teams to develop, document, and implement features that span across the software-hardware boundary, including Efficient’s dataflow ISA

Required Qualifications & Experience Requirements

• 7+ years of digital design experience with substantial experience designing for tape-out
• Experience running a digital design flow using industry-strength digital design and EDA tools
• Experience with designing and implementing features in RTL
• Experience integrating digital IP with RTL-level implementations
• Experience with pre-silicon verification
• Experience with continuous integration and testing of digital designs
• Experience with version control and scripting languages (Python preferred)
• Experience with memory compiler toolchains
• Strong attention to detail, good work ethic, ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously, and good communication skills
• Good problem solving skills

Desired Qualifications & Experience Requirements

• Experience designing compilers
• Knowledge of computer architecture
• Knowledge of physical design and ASIC implementation
• Experience with power and energy modeling (using tools like PowerArtist, Joules, etc.)
• Bachelor’s degree in related field required. Master’s or PhD. preferred.

About Efficient :

Efficient is developing the world’s most energy-efficient general-purpose computer processor. Efficient’s patented technology uses 100x less energy than state of the art commercially available ultra-low-power processors and is programmable using standard high-level programming languages and AI / ML frameworks.

This level of efficiency makes perpetual, pervasive intelligence possible : run AI / ML continuously on a AA battery for 5-10 years.

Our platform’s unprecedented level of efficiency enables IoT devices to intelligently capture and curate first-party data to drive the next major computing revolution.

Efficient was established in 2022 as a spinout of Carnegie Mellon University and is currently building a world-class team of hardware and software engineers spanning from silicon implementation to compilers.

With pre-seed funding secured, a portfolio of patent-protected IP, and substantial progress on hardware and software development, Efficient is moving quickly toward delivering first silicon in early- to mid-2024.

Find out more about our story at

Working at Efficient :

We are a small, but mighty team, with team members spread across EffHQ in Pittsburgh, Silicon Valley, and New York City. We are a young company on a tremendous growth path.

We aim to bring our team together, in-person often and camaraderie is key to our success. We have the tools and technology to keep us together and interactive as a remote team, as well.

We are dedicated to our core values : Adventure, Teamliness, Excellence, Impact, Determination, Integrity. Our core values define who we are as people, as a team and as a company and they are prevalent throughout our meetings, interactions, and culture.

Efficient offers a competitive compensation and benefits package, including 401K match, company-paid benefits, equity program, paid parental leave, flexibility, and more! We are committed to personal and professional development and strive to grow together as people and as a company.