Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Verification Manager Assistant

🎯 Role Definition

The Verification Manager Assistant works closely with the Verification Manager and verification leads to plan, track, and execute functional verification strategies across IP, block, and system levels. This role is a hybrid of technical verification support and program management: you will help define verification plans, maintain regression and coverage status, coordinate with design and software teams, run CI/regression campaigns, and prepare executive-level reporting to drive timely closure of verification sign-offs.

Core keywords: Verification Manager Assistant, functional verification, ASIC/SoC verification, UVM, SystemVerilog, regression automation, coverage closure, verification metrics, verification plan, CI/CD, emulation.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Verification Engineer (UVM/SystemVerilog) transitioning toward program-level responsibilities
Test Engineer or Validation Engineer with cross-functional coordination experience
Design Engineer with interest and experience in verification flows

Advancement To:

Verification Manager / Verification Team Lead
Senior Verification Engineer / Staff Verification Engineer
Program Manager for SoC/ASIC projects

Lateral Moves:

Project Manager (Engineering Programs)
Validation/Qualification Manager
Product/Release Manager for silicon bring-up

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Coordinate the verification project schedule by maintaining and updating detailed task trackers, milestone timelines, and resource allocation to ensure verification activities meet release commitments.
Work with the Verification Manager to develop and refine verification plans that include feature lists, testbench requirements, coverage goals, regression strategy, and sign-off criteria for IP and SoC deliverables.
Own daily and weekly verification status reporting by aggregating regression results, coverage statistics, bug backlog trends, and risk items into clear dashboards and executive summaries.
Run and maintain regression campaigns across simulators and emulators (including nightly and pre-silicon regressions), ensuring standardized environments and repeatable runs for deterministic results.
Triage failing regressions by collecting logs, waveforms, and core dumps, performing initial debug to categorize issues (design vs. testbench vs. environment), and escalating high-impact defects to leads.
Manage verification metrics and KPIs such as functional coverage closure, code coverage, regression pass/fail rates, bug discovery velocity, and escape rates, and propose remedial actions to meet quality targets.
Coordinate cross-functional verification activities with RTL designers, firmware/software teams, architecture, and validation to ensure dependencies are tracked and resolved, and test coverage is aligned across domains.
Maintain and improve verification automation frameworks, scripts, and CI pipelines (e.g., Jenkins/GitLab CI), including scheduling, resource orchestration, and automated result collection for faster feedback cycles.
Assist in the creation and review of test plans, directed tests, constrained-random scenarios, and assertion libraries in collaboration with verification leads and IP owners.
Support UVM/SystemVerilog testbench maintenance by applying best practices for modularity, reuse, and configurability; help refactor common components to reduce duplication and increase reuse across projects.
Help coordinate hardware-assisted verification activities such as emulation, FPGA prototyping, and HW/SW bring-up, including managing lab resources and scheduling access for stakeholders.
Maintain the verification toolchain and environment: manage simulator licenses, emulator queue scheduling, shared NFS areas, and environment configuration to maximize utilization and minimize downtime.
Perform risk assessments for verification plans and deliverables, identify integration and verification bottlenecks, and propose mitigation plans to the Verification Manager.
Facilitate bug lifecycle management by ensuring proper bug reporting, prioritization, root-cause classification, and closure coordination between verification and design teams.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives for verification processes by collecting team feedback, documenting repeatable procedures, and implementing automation to reduce manual overhead.
Support regression and coverage instrumentation efforts by requesting instrumentation hooks, scoreboard updates, or additional assertions from verification engineers and designers as needed.
Prepare and present verification readiness reviews and design/verification checkpoints to project management and stakeholders, summarizing readiness status and outstanding risks.
Ensure configuration and version control (Git/SVN) hygiene of testbenches, scripts, and regression recipes, coordinating merges and release tags for reproducible regressions.
Assist in mentoring junior verification engineers and interns by coordinating onboarding, providing guidance on regression setup, and reviewing verification artifacts for completeness.
Manage verification-related procurement and logistics such as emulator access, evaluation board purchases, and lab equipment coordination to support verification activities.
Support post-silicon validation handoff by assembling verification evidence packages (coverage reports, regression baselines, known issues) and by helping to reproduce silicon failures in the verification environment.
Act as the central point of contact for external audits of verification processes, providing artifacts, metrics, and documentation to demonstrate compliance with internal and customer QA standards.
Run ad-hoc analyses and deep dives into regression trends and coverage gaps, using scripting and data visualization to recommend targeted test cases or changes to improve defect detection efficiency.
Track and enforce milestone-driven sign-off criteria, working with verification leads to ensure that required coverage and regression stability targets are met prior to tape-out or release.

Secondary Functions

Support creation and maintenance of verification process documentation, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and onboarding guides to scale team knowledge.
Contribute to verification tool evaluations and pilot activities, coordinating trial runs, collecting feedback, and summarizing ROI for tool adoption decisions.
Liaise with supply chain and procurement to expedite replacement or additional test hardware for time-critical verification tasks.
Help run cross-project verification liaisons to harmonize testbench conventions, coverage models, and regression recipes for reuse across product lines.
Provide periodic training sessions or lunch-and-learn workshops on verification best practices, automation techniques, and tool usage for the broader engineering organization.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Functional verification methodologies including UVM, SystemVerilog, and constrained-random testbench architecture.
Practical experience with simulators and verification toolchains such as Synopsys VCS, Mentor Questa, Cadence Xcelium, or similar.
Knowledge of coverage-driven verification, including functional and code coverage metrics, coverage closure strategies, and interpretation of coverage reports.
Experience with continuous integration and regression automation tools (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI) and orchestration of nightly/regression runs.
Proficient scripting and automation skills (Python, Perl, Bash) to create regression drivers, log parsers, and result aggregation scripts.
Familiarity with emulation and FPGA prototyping workflows, including remote lab scheduling and bring-up procedures.
Strong familiarity with version control systems (Git, SVN) and best practices for branching, tagging, and change management in verification projects.
Experience with issue/bug tracking systems (JIRA, Bugzilla) and structured defect lifecycle management.
Ability to generate and manipulate verification artifacts: test plans, test cases, assertion libraries, scoreboard checks, and coverage models.
Hands-on experience with waveform viewers and debug tools (DVE, Verdi) to collect evidence and assist in root-cause analysis.
Basic understanding of RTL design concepts, timing closure impacts, and how design changes can affect verification strategy.
Familiarity with Linux/Unix development environments and common build systems for running regressions at scale.
Data analysis and reporting skills: ability to produce dashboards, KPI visualizations, and executive summaries using Excel, Python (pandas/matplotlib), or BI tools.

Soft Skills

Excellent written and verbal communication skills to create clear status reports, verification plans, and cross-functional emails to stakeholders.
Strong organizational skills with attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple verification streams in parallel.
Proactive problem-solver with bias for action — identifies bottlenecks early and drives resolution through coordination and escalation.
Stakeholder management and diplomacy — able to negotiate priorities between design, firmware, and project management teams.
Mentoring and team support aptitude — comfortable coaching junior engineers and promoting knowledge-sharing practices.
Adaptability and resilience in fast-paced project environments, including handling shifting priorities near milestones or tape-out.
Analytical mindset with the ability to synthesize complex verification data into actionable recommendations.
Time management and prioritization skills to balance operational tasks (regressions, triage) with process improvements and documentation.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a closely related technical field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering or equivalent technical discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Electrical Engineering
Computer Engineering
Computer Science
VLSI / Microelectronics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–7 years of professional experience in functional verification, test/validation, or related engineering support roles.

Preferred:

5+ years working within ASIC/SoC/FPGA verification environments, with demonstrated exposure to UVM/SystemVerilog testbenches and verification project coordination.
Prior experience supporting or leading verification activities, managing CI/regression infrastructure, and presenting status to engineering management.