# Design Architecture Engineer Intern at Astera Labs - Company: [Astera Labs](https://asteralabs.com) - Location: San Jose, CA - Type: Internship · Internship - Posted: 2026-10-06 - Apply: https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/asteraearlycareer2027/jobs/4731413005 - Page: https://newgrad.ai/jobs/design-architecture-engineer-intern-7e8680d0 ## Summary by newgrad.ai What you'll do: - Review product requirements and system specifications to identify architecture needs and gaps. - Develop architectural and microarchitectural specifications for blocks, interfaces, and system behavior. - Create dataflow diagrams, state machines, register definitions, and performance models. - Evaluate design tradeoffs involving latency, bandwidth, power, area, and complexity. - Collaborate with RTL, verification, physical design, and firmware teams on handoffs. What they're looking for: - Currently enrolled in bachelor's, master's, or Ph.D. in electrical/computer engineering or related field. - Coursework or project experience in computer architecture, digital systems, or ASIC/FPGA design. - Understanding of datapaths, state machines, registers, memory systems, and interfaces. - Programming experience with Python, C, C++, SystemVerilog, or spreadsheets. - Strong technical communication and ability to organize complex information. Pay and perks: - Hourly rate $35–$55 depending on education level. - $500 weekly housing/relocation stipend for internship duration. - Early Career programming with technical and professional development sessions. ## Posting ### About the role Astera Labs is seeking a Design Architecture Engineer Intern to help define complex ASIC and system designs from product requirements through implementation. You will work with architects and cross-functional engineering teams to develop clear architectural and microarchitectural specifications, evaluate design tradeoffs, and create the technical foundation for RTL, verification, physical design, DFT, and firmware. You will gain hands-on experience turning system goals into block definitions, interfaces, dataflows, state machines, registers, clocking and reset behavior, performance budgets, and software-programming guidance. You will own a scoped architecture project with mentorship and present the resulting analysis, specification, and recommendations. ### What you will do - Review product requirements, system use cases, protocol specifications, and technical constraints to identify architecture needs and open questions. - Develop or update architectural specifications describing major blocks, functions, interfaces, clocking, resets, software interactions, and system behavior. - Create or refine microarchitecture specifications for blocks and subsystems, including logical implementation, data structures, programmable registers, state machines, datapaths, and dataflow diagrams. - Define and analyze interface behavior, ownership, ordering, buffering, flow control, error handling, interrupts, and recovery sequences. - Evaluate architecture tradeoffs involving latency, bandwidth, throughput, buffering, area, power, timing, scalability, complexity, and software impact. - Build lightweight performance, capacity, traffic, or resource models using Python, spreadsheets, or comparable tools to support design decisions. - Review address maps, CSR/register definitions, configuration options, clock and reset relationships, and programming requirements for consistency and completeness. - Trace requirements into implementation and verification considerations; identify assumptions, corner cases, and measurable acceptance criteria. - Participate in architecture, design, DV, physical-design, DFT, firmware, and program reviews; capture decisions, actions, risks, and unresolved items. - Work with RTL, DV, PD, DFT, firmware, and systems engineers to clarify interfaces and improve the quality of handoff specifications. - Support architecture-to-RTL and architecture-to-DV handoff by organizing specifications, diagrams, register collateral, review evidence, and verification guidance. - Document the completed project, technical rationale, tradeoffs, open questions, and recommendations; present the results to engineering stakeholders. ### What you bring - Enrollment in a bachelor's, master's, or Ph.D. program in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, or a related field. - Coursework, research, or project experience in computer architecture, digital systems, ASIC/FPGA design, embedded systems, high-speed interfaces, or hardware/software integration. - Understanding of digital design concepts such as datapaths, state machines, registers, memory systems, interrupts, clocks, resets, and interfaces. - Programming, scripting, or modeling experience with Python, C, C++, SystemVerilog, spreadsheets, or a comparable toolset. - Ability to read technical specifications, organize complex information, reason about tradeoffs, and communicate precise technical decisions. - Familiarity with Linux development environments, Git, technical documentation, diagrams, and collaborative review workflows. - Strong ownership, curiosity, practical judgment, and willingness to collaborate across engineering functions. ### Preferred qualifications - Experience writing architecture, microarchitecture, design, interface, protocol, or software-programming specifications. - Familiarity with PCIe, CXL, UCIe, Ethernet, SerDes, chiplet, memory, or other high-speed interconnect architectures. - Experience with performance modeling, bandwidth/latency analysis, traffic modeling, queue or buffer sizing, or resource budgeting. - Exposure to RTL, design verification, formal methods, physical design, DFT, firmware, or system bring-up workflows. - Familiarity with CSR and register-map design, address decoding, interrupt architecture, error reporting, telemetry, or debug infrastructure. - Experience creating block diagrams, state diagrams, timing diagrams, interface tables, or traceability matrices. ### 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. ### Equal opportunity Astera Labs is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We encourage anyone with relevant experience to apply. From Astera Labs's public posting, laid out for reading by newgrad.ai with the wording unchanged. Check the original before you apply. --- More new-grad and intern roles: https://newgrad.ai/llms.txt