Design Engineer Intern

Summer internship – Digital design engineer - lowRISC CIC - Career Page Skip To

Job Description

lowRISC C.I.C. is a not-for-profit company that aims to demonstrate, promote and support the use of open-source hardware - bringing the benefits of open-source to the hardware world. We are producing high-quality, security-focused, open, and flexible IP. Our expertise includes the LLVM Compiler, novel hardware security extensions and RISC-V tools, hardware and processor design. We are hiring for multiple positions to deliver on an exciting, high impact, open source hardware roadmap in collaboration with Google and other industry partners.

Find out more about working at lowRISC C.I.C. and our activities and aims. We welcome speculative applications at any time from skilled engineers who feel they could contribute to lowRISC (for instance when none of our open roles are suitable, or if your skillset cuts across traditional engineering roles). Please apply, and explain in a covering letter how your skills and experience could make a difference at lowRISC. These speculative applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and unsuccessful applications may not be acknowledged.

Summer internship – Digital design engineer Cambridge, United Kingdom Internship Student (College) Share Location: Cambridge, UK Duration: 10 to 12 weeks (Mid-June to September 2027) Paid internship: £30k (undergrad) up to £35k (postgrad) Please apply by 30th January 2027 About lowRISC Imagine the innovations we could achieve together if production-ready commercial-grade IP components and engineering systems were available to everyone, for free. At lowRISC, we believe that open-source development can transform the semiconductor industry.

Our Ibex CPU and OpenTitan Root of Trust projects have been taken to production silicon, partnering with world-leading organisations including Google, combining open-source approaches with best practice chip design methodologies. lowRISC is a non-profit Community Interest Company: with a business model that includes member fees and engineering services we have shown that it is possible to run world-leading projects collaboratively for everyone’s benefit.

Originally a spinout from Cambridge University’s Computer Lab, our UK team is based in Cambridge and our Switzerland team is based in Zurich.

The role

We are looking for a Summer Intern with an interest in hardware design to support our engineering teams. This internship offers hands-on exposure to digital design and design verification through open-source projects of commercial grade quality. You may work on:

• Digital design workflows using SystemVerilog or equivalent
• Developing testbenches and automated verification scripts using UVM or equivalent
• Analysing verification results to improve hardware reliability
• Contributing to open-source repositories and documentation

About you We are looking for students who:

• Are studying Computer Science, Electronic Engineering or related fields 2nd+ year Bachelor's or part way through a Master's or PhD
• Have experience or interest in digital design or design verification
• Are comfortable with a hardware description language and Python or scripting for verification
• Are curious, proactive, and enjoy collaborative problem solving

Bonus skills (not required):

• Familiarity with RISC-V architectures
• Knowledge of UVM / SystemVerilog testbenches

What we offer

• Competitive salary £30k for undergrad, and up to £35k for a postgrad
• Mentorship from engineers leading open-source hardware projects
• Flexible hybrid working environment
• Opportunity to contribute to globally used open-source projects
• Collaborative project based culture

How to apply

Submit the following via our website: lowrisc.applytojob.com

• Your CV
• A short cover letter explaining your interests and experience
• Optional: Links to open-source repositories

Further questions can be sent to [email protected] We are an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from eligible and suitably qualified candidates regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender reassignment, religion or belief, sexual orientation, marital or civil partnership status, or pregnancy and maternity/paternity. If you need any adjustments made to the application or selection process, please let us know by emailing [email protected] Share Apply Apply for this position Required*