Possible careers for ECE MS students after graduation
Listed below are various titles and descriptions of jobs that graduates of the ECE MS program in some of the more computer-engineering tracks may expect to find.
Computer Architecture track
- Computer Architect
- Designs and develops computer systems and hardware architectures.
- Hardware Engineer
- Designs and tests computer hardware components, including CPUs, memory systems, and other elements of computer systems.
- Firmware Engineer
- Develops and optimizes low-level software that directly interacts with hardware, such as device drivers and embedded systems.
- System/Platform Engineer
- Integrates hardware and software systems, ensuring they work together effectively.
- Performance Engineer
- Analyzes and optimizes the performance of computer systems and applications, often working on benchmarks and tuning system parameters.
- Chip Designer/Engineer
- Specializes in designing integrated circuits (ICs) and semiconductor chips, such as CPUs, GPUs, and other components.
- VLSI Design Engineer
- Works on Very-Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) technology to design complex integrated circuits and systems on a chip (SoCs).
- Embedded Systems Engineer
- Designs and develops computer systems that are part of larger systems or devices, focusing on specialized applications.
- Research Scientist (Computer Architecture)
- Conducts research to advance the field of computer architecture, developing new theories, models, and technologies.
- Network Architect
- Designs and builds network infrastructures that support and optimize data flow and system integration, often involving hardware and architecture considerations.
- Cloud Solutions Architect
- Designs and manages cloud-based systems and infrastructure, integrating and optimizing hardware and software resources for cloud environments.
Design Verification and Validation track
- ASIC Verification Engineer
- Work with system designers and architects to test performance and validate hardware components and systems. You plan and develop a verification environment while coordinating with developers and architects throughout the design process.
- CPU Verification Engineer
- Work closely with architecture and RTL designers on verifying the functionality correctness of the design; Develop test plans and test environments; Develop tests in assembly, C, or vectors according to test plans; Develop coverage monitors and analyze coverage to ensure all the test cases in the plans are covered; Develop checkers or C-base transactor to verify the design
- Design Verification Engineer
- Design and Verification of several critical subsystems and SoC. Developing a balanced architecture between power consumption and performance, delivering high complexity RTL code and creating sophisticated testbenches using groundbreaking verification techniques.
- EDA Verification Engineer
- Development and verification of flows and tools as well as definition of data models and solution architectures for requirements and verification management flows.
- Hardware Verification Engineer
- Responsible for ensuring the pre-silicon quality of designs. Review architecture specifications to develop comprehensive test and coverage plans. Develop the verification environment and tests to implement test plans, using Object Oriented tools, in particular SystemVerilog and UVM. Work closely with design and architecture teams to understand the functional and performance goals of the design.
- Formal Verification Engineer
- Formal Method or Formal Verification technologies experience and abstraction techniques.
- GPU Formal Verification Engineer
- Development of formal models, assertions and abstractions.
- Hardware Formal Verification Engineer
- Developing high-quality formal verification test benches to verify complex designs. Position involves working with design, implementation teams to verify designs with high quality. Must be proficient in deep bug hunting, formal tools, formal verification methodologies.
- SOC Formal Verification Engineer
- Building cutting-edge formal verification testbench environments to find bugs and build proofs of bug absence in SoCs containing processors, video/GPUs, networking, AI/ML designs. Formal verification is the only way to generate proofs of correctness and build proofs of bug absence.
- Formal Verification Product focused Application Engineer
- Drive the adoption of formal products and apps in customers’ verification flow.
- Formal Analysis Engineer
- Establish and maintain formal verification flows. Develop and maintain automation to support formal verification.
- Software/Hardware Formal Verification Engineer
- Identify blocks suitable to deploy formal verification. Build formal verification environment, write assertions, covers and appropriate constraints.
- Low Power Formal Verification
- Formal constraint verification for low power optimization.
Digital IC Design track
- Component Design Engineer
- Utilizes engineering principles of RTL to design various components of the CPU/GPU/Accelarators and IPs.
- Physical Design Engineer
- Applies knowledge of Physical design aspects of design engineering, like Placement and Routting along and Timing analysis.
- Static Timing Engineer
- Utilizes concepts of Static Timing Analysis, with deep understanding VLSI design components and layout design.
- Hardware Engineer
- Develops RTL coding methods using Verilog/SystemVerilog to design and code various blocks of a bigger design with architectural knowledge.
- Logic Design Engineer
- Implements RTL for IPs and components using SystemVerilog/Verilog with knowlege in verification on various design styles (CPU/GPU/TPU/Uncore).
- ASIC Design Engineer
- Develops RTL design and STA timing analysis strategies with simulation and emulation methods.
- Integration Engineer
- Applies the block level knowledge of Placement and Routing with deep understanding of STA principles for top level Integration. Utilizes knowlege of IP specifications during integration of chip.
- SoC Design Engineer
- Designs larger RTL components along with STA analysis on multiple design components and helps with Physical design integration of SoC.
- VLSI Physical Design Engineer
- Latest foundry nodes knowledge, Place and Route expertise, backend knowledge (DRC/LVR/EM/IR) analysis
- VLSI Synthesis and DE
- Applies experise of RTL coding with expertise in Synthesis netlist generation. Understands elaboration, compilation, UPF, power intent, timing and power tradeoffs.
- Physical Design Verification Engineer
- Applies the knowledge of Backend Physical Design characteristis like DRC, LVR, IR drop analysis along with Power-intent, Noise and Signal Integrity analysis, Runsets, Foundry rule sets to get the design ready for Foundry tapout.
- ASIC Physical Design and Timing Engineer
- Implements Static Timing analysis principles to converge design modules, by writing SDC constraints, doing Feasibility analysis and applying tradeoff for design closure.
Embedded Systems track
- Embedded Systems Engineer
- Designs and develops embedded software and hardware systems, ensuring seamless integration and performance optimization.
- Firmware Engineer
- Focuses on creating and debugging low-level firmware for microcontrollers and embedded systems.
- Hardware/Software Integration Engineer
- Bridges hardware and software teams to debug and optimize system-level integration.
- IoT Embedded Systems Engineer
- Builds embedded software for IoT devices, focusing on connectivity, energy efficiency, and cloud integration.
- Automotive Embedded Systems Engineer
- Develops real-time embedded systems for vehicles, adhering to industry standards like AUTOSAR and ISO 26262.
- Embedded AI/ML Engineer
- Implements optimized AI/ML algorithms on resource-constrained embedded systems for edge applications.
- Senior Embedded Systems Engineer
- Leads embedded systems projects, mentors teams, and drives innovative system design.
- FPGA Firmware Engineer
- Develops firmware and HDL code for FPGA-based embedded systems, ensuring efficient integration.
- Industrial Automation Embedded Engineer
- Designs embedded systems for industrial machinery, focusing on real-time control and automation protocols.
- Medical Device Embedded Engineer
- Creates compliant, reliable embedded systems for medical devices, adhering to strict safety and regulatory standards.