Sr Principal Engineer - Validation

Job Description Renesas is looking for a Sr. 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 programQualifications Required Skills & Experience B.E./B. Tech or M.E./M. Tech in Electronics, Electrical, or Computer Engineering, or equivalent industry experience. 18+ years of experience in semiconductor validation, characterization, or silicon engineering, with demonstrated ownership of silicon quality outcomes. 3+ years in senior technical leadership roles 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 OEM or Tier 1 customer engagement experience.