Digital RTL Design Engineer – Intern

Role overview

Astera Labs is seeking a motivated Digital RTL Design Intern to join our San Jose design team. This internship offers hands-on experience in digital logic design and RTL development for high-performance connectivity and networking ASICs.

You will work closely with experienced architects and design engineers to translate design specifications into synthesizable RTL, develop and debug digital logic, and contribute to the design and integration of complex ASICs. You will collaborate with verification, synthesis, physical design, and other cross-functional teams throughout the ASIC development process.

Key responsibilities

RTL design and implementation

• Develop and maintain synthesizable Verilog/SystemVerilog RTL for digital ASIC blocks and subsystems under the guidance of experienced engineers.

• Translate design specifications into digital logic, including datapaths, control logic, finite state machines, counters, register interfaces, and other functional blocks.

• Implement, modify, and integrate RTL modules following established design and coding guidelines.

• Participate in RTL code reviews and contribute to design quality, readability, reusability, and maintainability.

• Debug RTL functionality and assist with resolving design and integration issues.

• Learn and apply digital design best practices for performance, power, and area optimization.

Functional verification and debugging

• Run RTL simulations and debug functional issues using waveforms, simulation logs, and debugging tools.

• Work with design verification engineers to understand design requirements and validate RTL functionality.

• Assist with identifying corner cases and resolving functional issues discovered during simulation.

• Support RTL lint checks and other design-quality checks.

• Develop familiarity with verification methodologies, SystemVerilog assertions, and regression-based testing.

ASIC design flow and implementation support

• Gain exposure to the ASIC development flow, including synthesis, timing analysis, and physical design.

• Review basic synthesis and timing reports to understand how RTL coding decisions affect hardware implementation.

• Assist with investigating timing or synthesis issues in collaboration with experienced design engineers.

• Support RTL integration and design-readiness activities throughout the development cycle.

• Learn industry-standard EDA tools and methodologies used in digital ASIC design.

Cross-functional collaboration

• Collaborate with design verification, synthesis, physical design, DFT, and other engineering teams to support ASIC development.

• Participate in technical discussions, design reviews, and project meetings.

• Document design functionality, debugging results, and technical issues.

• Gain exposure to tapeout, silicon bring-up, and post-silicon debugging as project opportunities arise.

Basic qualifications

• Currently pursuing a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.

• Fundamental understanding of digital logic design, including combinational and sequential logic, flip-flops, finite state machines, and basic datapaths.

• Basic knowledge of Verilog or SystemVerilog through coursework, academic projects, research, or internships.

• Familiarity with digital design concepts such as clocks, resets, counters, FIFOs, and register-based interfaces.

• Basic understanding of digital simulation and hardware design principles.

• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and debugging skills.

• Eagerness to learn new technologies and work on challenging engineering problems.

• Good communication skills and the ability to work effectively in a collaborative team environment.

• Ability and willingness to work onsite in San Jose, California.

• No prior industry experience is required; relevant coursework, academic projects, research, and internships will be considered.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience developing Verilog/SystemVerilog RTL through academic projects, FPGA development, research, or internships.

• Familiarity with RTL simulation and waveform-debugging tools.

• Exposure to digital ASIC or FPGA design flows.

• Basic understanding of synthesis, static timing analysis, or physical design concepts.

• Familiarity with Python, Tcl, Perl, Shell, or other scripting languages.

• Exposure to high-speed interfaces or communication protocols such as PCI Express, Ethernet, AMBA, CXL, or other networking and interconnect technologies.

• Familiarity with verification concepts such as SystemVerilog assertions, UVM, functional coverage, or formal verification.

• Interest in high-performance ASICs, networking, data-center infrastructure, or AI and cloud computing.

• Demonstrated ability to learn new technical concepts and apply them to practical engineering problems.

Internship experience and compensation

This is a paid, hourly U.S. internship. The applicable hourly rate is determined as part of the offer process and specified in the offer letter, depending on education level ranges form $35/hour to $55/hour. U.S. interns currently receive a $500-per-week housing/relocation stipend for the duration of the internship. Interns participate in Early Career programming, including technical and professional-development sessions, community events, and an end-of-program project presentation.