Principal Hardware Design Engineer - Santa Clara, CA, United States
Originally posted 15 October 2026 by the employer.
About the role
This role is responsible for the design, implementation, and bring-up of complex high-speed boards and networking platforms that integrate silicon, packaging, and optics into deployable board and switch-level solutions. This role drives execution across complex, cross-functional programs addressing demanding challenges in AI, wired and wireless communications, and critical infrastructure markets.
What you'll do
- Lead design and development of complex high-speed boards and networking platforms spanning board, switch, and optics.
- Own PCB layout, schematic capture, and board bring-up process.
- Plan and organize board build process, component procurement, board bring-up, debug, and testing.
- Drive system-level architecture decisions including power, thermals, signal integrity, and reliability.
- Perform hands-on lab bring-up and debug of boards using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and other test equipment.
- Review customer designs with FAEs and board layout groups, leading root cause and corrective action for hardware design issues.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or related field and 10-15 years of related professional experience; Master's degree and/or PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field with 5-10 years of experience.
- Direct experience with high-speed & high-density printed circuit board design containing high-speed serial and memory interfaces, including DDR3/4/5, PCIe Gen3/4/5, SATA3, SPI, and I2C.
- Proven track record leading small teams of design engineers to successfully complete design deliverables from concept to production.
- Experience with high-speed routing including PAM4, DDR5, and PCIe Gen5, along with routing strategy.
- Familiarity with Cadence Allegro/OrCAD schematic capture and PCB layout tools.
- Working knowledge of signal integrity and power integrity concepts, including decoupling strategies, AC impedance targets, cross talk, insertion loss, and return loss.
- Experience with larger board formats and layer counts, stack up optimization, and good knowledge of power supply design with hands-on measurement experience.
- Hands-on experience with advanced test equipment such as sampling/real-time oscilloscopes and logic analyzers for board bring-up and debug.
- Understanding of mechanical and thermal considerations and their impact on board design, particularly for high-density component layouts.
This role has been open 1 day — well below the 51-day median for Hardware Systems Engineering roles.
Hardware Systems Engineering · AI ML Hardware
|
Open roles in category
953
|
Median days open
51 d
|
Median salary
$156k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Marvell Technology | All employers we track in this specialty (953 roles · 102 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 21 | 953 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 72 | 6157 · 145 employers |
| Median days open | 46 d | 51 d (−5 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $156k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Intel Corporation · 68 open roles · median 34 d
- KLA Corporation · 64 open roles · median 44 d
- Teradyne · 56 open roles · median 28 d
- NVIDIA · 51 open roles · median 67 d
- Applied Materials · 49 open roles · median 64 d
- AMD · 47 open roles · median 48 d
How we counted: 953 open Hardware Systems Engineering (AI ML Hardware) roles from 102 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 16 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.