Senior Principal Engineer, Hardware Application Engineering Board & System Design

Senior Principal Engineer, Hardware Application Engineering — Board & System Design
Santa Clara, CA – Onsite
Full Time

As Senior Principal Engineer for Board & System Hardware Design, you will be the senior technical authority guiding customer hardware design-in on Marvell's Ethernet Switch and UALink platforms, and a key technical bridge between Marvell's silicon teams, internal hardware engineering, and the field. Your primary mission is to ensure that customers' next-generation switches, AI fabric platforms, and networking systems are designed right the first time — performant, manufacturable, reliable, and ready for high-volume production.

This is a deep individual contributor role with a strong system-design and productization focus. You will spend most of your time reviewing and shaping customer hardware designs — covering board architecture, PCB stack-up and material selection, power architecture, thermal design, mechanical integration, and reliability and retain full hands-on capability across the entire design lifecycle from architecture through schematic, layout guidance, and bring-up. You will also play a central role in defining and supporting reference designs for new silicon and serving as a trusted technical educator to both customers and internal teams. You will be a key technical voice in Marvell's evolution toward 224G and 448G SerDes-class systems and the emerging open AI fabric standards.

Serve as the senior technical advisor to customer hardware teams designing platforms around Marvell's Ethernet switches and UALink silicon, from early architecture through production ramp.
Lead design-in reviews of customer schematics, PCB stack-ups, and overall system architectures, identifying risks early and guiding customers to best-in-class implementations.
Define, develop, and support reference designs for new Marvell silicon — partnering with silicon, packaging, and internal HW engineering teams from early product definition through customer release.
Work closely with Marvell's internal hardware engineering and silicon teams as a feedback channel from the field — influencing silicon I/O, package, power, and reference design choices based on real customer deployment learnings.
Drive PCB stack-up strategy and material selection (low-loss laminates, copper roughness, glass weave, via construction) to meet high-speed performance and cost targets.
Own architecture, schematic, layout guidance, and bring-up of Marvell reference and evaluation platforms, applying full lifecycle hands-on expertise where needed.
Guide customers on power delivery architecture, including PDN design, multi-rail sequencing, decoupling strategy, and tolerance analysis for high-current ASICs.
Advise on thermal design, mechanical integration, and cooling strategies (air, liquid, immersion) to meet performance and reliability targets in real deployments.
Provide guidance on signal and power integrity, reviewing customer SI/PI simulations and contributing simulations directly when the project requires it.
Drive design for reliability, manufacturability, and testability — ensuring smooth transitions to production at ODM/CM partners.
Develop and deliver technical training to customers and internal Marvell teams covering Marvell silicon, reference designs, high-speed design best practices, and productization methodologies.
Provide technical leadership on 112G and 224G PAM4 SerDes designs today, and help shape Marvell's hardware approach for next-generation 448G systems.
Lead hardware bring-up support, root-cause debug, and issue resolution during customer lab phases and early production.
Partner closely with Marvell Silicon Design, Packaging, SI/PI, Software, and Operations teams to deliver fully integrated solutions.
Contribute to product definition and roadmap planning by bringing real-world customer feedback into architecture and marketing discussions.
Represent Marvell's hardware expertise in customer briefings, executive reviews, and industry technical forums.

What We're Looking For
PhD, Master's, or Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
15+ years of experience in hardware design, development, and validation of high-speed networking or compute systems.
7+ years of dedicated experience in board and system design for high-speed platforms involving modern SerDes (25G NRZ through 112G/224G PAM4).
Proven full-lifecycle ownership of complex high-speed boards: architecture, schematic, layout guidance, and bring-up.
Demonstrated experience defining and delivering reference designs that enabled customer or internal platform adoption.
Strong expertise in PCB stack-up design and material selection for high-speed, high-layer-count boards.
Deep experience with power architecture for high-current ASICs, including PDN design, sequencing, decoupling, and tolerance analysis.
Solid background in thermal design and mechanical integration for high-power network and AI systems.
Working knowledge of SI/PI principles, with the ability to review customer simulations and run targeted simulations independently when needed.
Hands-on experience with hardware bring-up, lab debug, and root-cause analysis using industry-standard lab equipment.
Deep understanding of high-speed interfaces: Ethernet, PCIe, DDR, advanced SerDes, and modern power delivery architectures.
Strong grasp of design for reliability, manufacturability, and testability across the product lifecycle.
Customer-facing experience supporting complex technical engagements and resolving real-world deployment issues.
Proven ability to develop and deliver technical training content to engineering audiences.
Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence senior customer engineering teams and collaborate across disciplines and geographies.

Preferred
Direct experience with Ethernet switch platforms (any tier) and/or emerging open AI fabric standards and architectures.
Experience designing or reviewing platforms targeting megascale data center deployments.
Background in reference platform design and customer enablement for silicon-based solutions.
Familiarity with ODM/CM manufacturing flows, including DFM/DFT, qualification, and reliability testing.
Experience with advanced cooling approaches (liquid, immersion) for high-power AI/networking platforms.
EDA tool fluency in either Cadence (Allegro/Sigrity) or Mentor/Siemens (Xpedition/HyperLynx) ecosystems — tool-agnostic candidates with deep expertise welcome.
Track record of influencing silicon and platform roadmaps based on customer and field insights.

Leadership & Impact:
As a senior technical leader within the Customer Solutions Group, you will:
Set the technical bar for board and system hardware design quality across Marvell's most strategic customer engagements.
Serve as a key technical interface between customers, Marvell silicon teams, and internal hardware engineering — accelerating learning in both directions.
Mentor engineers across the team and lead training for customers and internal stakeholders, raising collective expertise in system design, productization, and customer enablement.
Shape the direction of Marvell's customer-facing hardware solutions and influence next-generation product evolution.
Act as a technical ambassador, representing Marvell's hardware capabilities to top-tier customers and partners.
Travel as needed to customer sites, ODMs, and labs — typically project-driven rather than continuous.

Recruiter Submission Template

Full Name:
Highest Education (Institution, Degree & Graduation Year):
Total Years of Hardware Design Experience:
Total Years of Board & System Design Experience:
Do you have at least 15 years of experience in hardware design, development, and validation of high-speed networking or compute systems? (Yes/No – Details)
Do you have at least 7 years of experience designing high-speed boards and systems supporting modern SerDes platforms (25G NRZ through 112G/224G PAM4)? (Yes/No – Details)
Which high-speed interfaces have you worked with? (Ethernet / PCIe / DDR / 25G NRZ / 56G PAM4 / 112G PAM4 / 224G PAM4 / Other)
Do you have experience owning the complete board lifecycle including architecture, schematic capture, PCB layout guidance, and hardware bring-up? (Yes/No – Details)
Do you have experience developing and delivering reference platform designs for customers or internal engineering teams? (Yes/No – Details)
Do you have expertise in PCB stack-up design, material selection, and high-speed board architecture? (Yes/No – Details)
Do you have experience designing Power Delivery Networks (PDN), multi-rail sequencing, decoupling strategies, and power architecture for high-current ASICs? (Yes/No – Details)
Do you have experience with thermal design, mechanical integration, and cooling solutions for high-power networking or AI platforms? (Yes/No – Details)
Do you have working knowledge of Signal Integrity (SI) and Power Integrity (PI), including reviewing or performing SI/PI simulations? (Yes/No – Details)
Do you have hands-on experience with hardware bring-up, lab debugging, and root-cause analysis using industry-standard laboratory equipment? (Yes/No – Details)
Which EDA tools have you used? Please specify your level of experience with each.

• Cadence Allegro
• Sigrity
• Mentor Xpedition
• HyperLynx
• Other

Do you have experience supporting customer-facing technical engagements and working directly with ODMs or Contract Manufacturers? (Yes/No – Details)
Do you have experience with DFM, DFT, qualification, reliability testing, and manufacturing support? (Yes/No – Details)
Please describe your most significant Board & System Design project, including the architecture, PCB technologies, power delivery design, hardware bring-up, customer interaction, and production outcome.
Please describe your experience influencing hardware architecture, silicon development, reference platform strategy, or product roadmaps through customer engagements.
Motivation / Reason for Relocation (if not local):
Motivation / Reason for Interest in this Position:
Contact Number:
Email ID:
LinkedIn Profile URL:
Current Location (City, State):
Full Address (Street, City, State, ZIP Code):
Current Work Authorization Status:
Expected Salary:
Notice Period:
Are you willing to relocate on your own expense and work onsite in Santa Clara, California? (Yes/No):
Are you willing to travel to customer sites, ODMs, and engineering labs as required? (Yes/No):