Digital Design Engineer

Digital Design Engineer – RTL & Simulation

Design Tomorrow’s Hardware – Today

Are you driven by the elegance of clean logic and the challenge of building robust systems from the ground up? Do you enjoy abstract thinking, but also want your work to directly influence real-world hardware? If you're experienced in RTL design and simulation, and excited about joining a team working at the intersection of innovation and simplicity, this is the opportunity you’ve been looking for.

About the Role

We’re looking for a Digital Design Engineer to join our growing team focused on next-generation computing platforms. This role centers on RTL design and simulation—the foundation of digital hardware. You’ll work closely with colleagues who specialize in microarchitecture, physical implementation, and performance optimization, creating solutions that balance clarity, modularity, and performance.

Your job won’t just be writing code—it will be designing systems that scale. You'll help build and simulate advanced system-on-chip (SoC) designs, contribute to design space exploration, and bring up hardware in simulation environments. Your RTL code will serve as the blueprint for real silicon.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain RTL code for digital components in our SoC designs using modern tools
• Simulate, debug, and verify complex digital systems at various levels of abstraction.
• Contribute to architectural decisions, identifying and fixing performance bottlenecks in collaboration with our CPU and systems teams.
• Participate in power, area, and timing analysis to guide design tradeoffs.
• Collaborate with open source communities, building visibility and contributing to shared hardware ecosystems.
• Work across disciplines with backend and systems engineers to ensure a holistic and efficient design flow.

What You'll Gain

At Ascenium, we believe in deep ownership and cross-functional growth. Whether you’re curious about CPU internals, system software, or physical design tradeoffs, you’ll have the opportunity to stretch beyond your core expertise. You’ll also be part of a flat, open engineering culture where your voice can influence not just technical decisions, but hiring, team culture, and strategy.

We also actively support contributions to open-source projects—both for the sake of the community and your personal portfolio.

You Might Be a Good Fit If You:

• Have hands-on experience with RTL design and simulation, and a good understanding of digital hardware principles.
• Are comfortable navigating complex logic and understand how your design choices affect performance and implementation.
• Are eager to collaborate with backend engineers, architects, and software developers in a tight feedback loop.
• Enjoy reasoning through systems and simplifying complexity with thoughtful design.
• Value clarity, maintainability, and long-term thinking in your code and your communication.

Why Join Us?

At Ascenium, we’re building something audacious—a radically simplified and scalable processor design that reimagines how software and hardware interact. It’s a place where deep technical work meets a supportive, low-ego environment.