what is the path or skills required to become a RTL engineer or to enter the FPGA domain?

The simple answer is yes, one can become RTL designer without working as verification engineer.

You may checkout reddit as the community there is larger and you may get more opinion from a variety of people.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FPGA/comments/syqr0j/what_else_can_i_learn_to_get_better_as_an_fpga/

https://www.reddit.com/r/FPGA/comments/idmowd/what_are_essential_rtl_skills_to_have_on_your/

At the same time, do some job research to grasp an understanding on what kind of job you want and what do they do.

Would like mention that this is a disclaimer and the reply is just general advice. I am not speaking on Intel behalf.

Best Regards,

Richard Tan

p/s: If any answer from the community or Intel Support are helpful, please feel free to give best answer or rate 9/10 survey.