Principal Engineer - Validation

Job Description Renesas is looking for a Principal Engineer, Validation. to redefine how automotive‑grade silicon quality is built—driving first‑time‑right silicon, eliminating customer escapes, and setting a new industry benchmark for validation excellence   Key Responsibilities • Define and own the end‑to‑end silicon validation strategy for automotive and HPC SoCs, from pre‑silicon enablement through post‑silicon production release. • Ensure first‑time‑right silicon, robust validation coverage, and zero customer escapes across all assigned programs. • Lead global validation teams responsible for silicon bring‑up, characterization, and system‑level validation across multiple concurrent programs. • Establish and drive a System Use Case Validation Program, harvesting real customer/OEM and system scenarios and converting them into automated, traceable validation suites. • Influence SoC architecture, design, and program decisions through early validation insights, risk identification, and data‑backed recommendations. • Drive shift‑left validation as a measurable engineering program, increasing reuse across simulation, emulation/FPGA, and silicon to reduce late surprises. • Own escape‑prevention strategy, including robustness testing, fault scenarios, coverage models, and disciplined validation signoff criteria. • Build and scale high‑performing validation organizations, developing strong technical leadership (Staff/Principal pipeline) and execution ownership. • Lead automation, standardization, and infrastructure modernization across validation labs, board farms, and CI systems. • Establish validation methodologies, quality benchmarks, metrics, and dashboards aligned with Renesas standards and automotive expectations. • Identify technical, execution, and program risks early; drive data‑driven mitigation and executive decision‑making. • Provide clear executive‑level reporting on validation status, risks, readiness, and outcomes. • Act as a trusted partner to Design, DV, Test, Firmware, Software, Product Engineering, Quality, and BU leadership. • Adoption of industry best practices as a measurable program   Required Skills & Experience • B.E./B. Tech or M.E./M. Tech in Electronics, Electrical, or Computer Engineering, or equivalent industry experience. • 16+ years of experience in semiconductor validation, characterization, or silicon engineering, with demonstrated ownership of silicon quality outcomes. • Strong domain expertise in automotive SoC validation, system‑level use‑case testing, and robustness validation. • Proven experience delivering complex SoC programs from first silicon through production release. • Deep understanding of silicon validation flows, lab environments, and post‑silicon debug ecosystems. • Demonstrated success building and scaling automation‑first validation frameworks using Python, C++, or similar technologies. • Strong experience driving cross‑functional execution in a matrixed, global environment. • Excellent executive communication, stakeholder management, and decision‑making skills. • Experience with AI frameworks for SoC Validation efficiency and quality gain— eg validation specific AI agents, Cody AI for content development etc. Preferred • Experience with ISO 26262 / ASIL‑D development and validation environments. • Exposure to emulation/FPGA‑based shift‑left validation and pre↔post silicon continuity models. • Strong foundation in mixed‑signal and digital silicon validation, including pattern‑based and system‑level methodologies. • Track record of institutionalizing industry best practices across multiple programs and organizations. • Experience leading culture change toward proactive risk ownership, evidence‑based closure, and challenge‑ready execution. • Automotive OE