Prototyping Design Software Engineer

Snap Inc is a technology company. We believe the camera presents the greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. Snap contributes to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together. The Company’s three core products are Snapchat, a visual messaging app that enhances your relationships with friends, family, and the world; Lens Studio, an augmented reality platform that powers AR across Snapchat and other services; and its AR glasses, Spectacles.

Specs Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Snap Inc. dedicated to making computing more human. The company develops Specs, advanced eyewear that seamlessly integrates digital experiences into the physical world.

Specs feature see-through lenses that place digital objects directly into three-dimensional space, powered by Snap OS, a proprietary, context-aware operating system designed for natural interaction with your hands and voice.

Specs Inc. also provides Lens Studio, a full suite of advanced developer tools that powers immersive augmented reality experiences across Specs, Snapchat, and other services.

We are looking for a Prototyping Design Engineer with strong SoC prototyping experience and enough embedded software skills to help bring platforms to life early. You will port complex SoC RTL onto FPGA, HAPS, and ZeBu platforms, enable boot and software validation flows, and collaborate across RTL, verification, system software, and infrastructure teams. This role is ideal for someone who can move between hardware integration, platform bring-up, low-level software debug, and RTOS/bare-metal enablement.

What you’ll do:

• Port SoC and subsystem RTL onto FPGA, HAPS, and ZeBu platforms while keeping the prototyping code as close as possible to ASIC RTL and carefully managing target-specific conditionals.

• Build and maintain pre-silicon platforms that enable early firmware software development, bootloader/FSBL bring-up, and validation of key interfaces such as eMMC, LPDDR, PCIe, MIPI CSI2/DSI, UART, QSPI Flash, SPI, I2C/I3C, GPIO, and JTAG.

• Rework RTL, wrappers, and platform-specific logic for prototyping targets, including HAPS/ZeBu-specific interface PHY changes and controller-presence handling to support common software flows across SoC, ZeBu, HAPS, and FPGA platforms.

• Develop, integrate, or adapt low-level embedded software needed for bring-up, including board support code, boot configuration, device drivers, diagnostics, and RTOS or bare-metal test applications.

• Debug complex hardware/software bring-up issues across HAPS, ZeBu, and FPGA targets, including memory-model integration, reset and clock sequencing, controller/PHY interaction, timing issues, waveform analysis, JTAG/SWD debug, and timing-report review.

• Participate in designing, developing, and maintaining SoC validation tests at pre-tapeout stages using firmware, bare-metal tests, RTOS-based applications, and host automation.

• Partner with SoC, verification, infrastructure, and external vendors to root-cause issues and accelerate pre-silicon software readiness.

• Integrate prototyping platforms into CI/CD flows and improve build reliability, automated regressions, artifact traceability, and shared platform infrastructure.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Strong understanding of SoC RTL integration and the tradeoffs required to map large designs onto prototyping and emulation platforms.

• Hands-on experience with FPGA prototyping and hardware emulation platforms such as HAPS, ZeBu, or similar Cadence/Siemens/Synopsys environments.

      • Experience with Static timing analysis for XILINX/Intel FPGA platforms 

• Proficiency in embedded C/C++ and ability to read, write, and debug low-level firmware for boot, diagnostics, drivers, and hardware validation.

• Experience with RTOS concepts and development, including task/thread scheduling, interrupts, synchronization, timers, memory management, device-driver integration, and real-time constraints.

• Experience with bare-metal development and boot flows, including boot ROM/FSBL, startup code, linker scripts, memory maps, MMU/MPU/cache configuration, and board support packages.

• Familiarity with ARM Cortex-M/R/A architectures, SoC peripherals, and system interfaces such as LPDDR/DFI, eMMC, PCIe, JTAG/SWD, UART, SPI, I2C/I3C, GPIO, and QSPI Flash.

• Experience debugging clocks, resets, timing issues, waveforms, platform bring-up problems, and embedded software crashes or asserts across multiple pre-silicon targets.

• Familiarity with debugging tools such as JTAG/SWD, GDB, trace, logic analyzers, waveform viewers, embedded logging, and diagnostic frameworks.

• Ability to work from RTL, hardware schematics, datasheets, and timing reports, and to communicate platform limitations and integration constraints clearly across hardware and software teams.

• Strong problem-solving, communication, teamwork, and prioritization skills in a fast-paced cross-functional environment.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.

• 5+ years of experience in SoC prototyping, FPGA/emulation bring-up, embedded software, firmware, or pre-silicon validation.

• Experience with RTL integration, FPGA prototyping, hardware emulation, or pre-silicon validation.

• Demonstrated experience in C/C++ programming for embedded, bare-metal, or RTOS-based systems.

• Experience bringing up complex SoC or subsystem designs on non-silicon targets and debugging boot, firmware, RTOS, and hardware/software interface issues using waveforms, JTAG/SWD, logs, and trace.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with Synopsys ZeBu and Synopsys HAPS platforms; experience with other Cadence, Siemens, or Synopsys emulation/prototyping environments is a plus.

• Experience running embedded software, diagnostics, or RTOS-based applications on FPGA or emulator platforms.

• Experience with RTOS platforms such as FreeRTOS, Zephyr, ThreadX, QNX, or similar, including BSP/device-driver integration and real-time profiling.

• Experience with ARM Cortex-M/R/A architectures, bootloader/FSBL development, memory subsystems such as LPDDR/DFI, and storage or high-speed interfaces such as eMMC and PCIe.

• Experience building or maintaining CI/CD pipelines for hardware prototyping and embedded software flows, such as GitLab or TeamCity.

• Experience working closely with system software teams on early boot, FSBL, driver, RTOS, and validation enablement.

If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please don’t be shy and provide us some information.

"Default Together" Policy at Snap: At Snap Inc. we believe that being together in person helps us build our culture faster, reinforce our values, and serve our community, customers and partners better through dynamic collaboration. To reflect this, we practice a “default together” approach and expect our team members to work in an office 4+ days per week. 

At Snap, we believe that having a team of diverse backgrounds and voices working together will enable us to create innovative products that improve the way people live and communicate. Snap is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and committed to providing employment opportunities regardless of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected classification, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. EOE, including disability/vets.

Our Benefits: Snap Inc. is its own community, so we’ve got your back! We do our best to make sure you and your loved ones have everything you need to be happy and healthy, on your own terms. Our benefits are built around your needs and include paid parental leave, comprehensive medical coverage, emotional and mental health support programs, and compensation packages that let you share in Snap’s long-term success!