Senior Principal Engineer, Hardware Application Engineering — Board & System Design
Marvell· enterprise· Semiconductors· Oct 22, 2026 · 6d ago
Santa Clara, CA
In office
Full-time
Principal
$136K–$213K est.
15+ years exp
Job description
About Marvell
Marvell’s semiconductor solutions are the essential building blocks of the data infrastructure that connects our world. Across enterprise, cloud and AI, and carrier architectures, our innovative technology is enabling new possibilities.
At Marvell, you can affect the arc of individual lives, lift the trajectory of entire industries, and fuel the transformative potential of tomorrow. For those looking to make their mark on purposeful and enduring innovation, above and beyond fleeting trends, Marvell is a place to thrive, learn, and lead.
Your Team, Your Impact
Marvell's U.S. Customer Solutions Group is the frontline technical partner to the world's most demanding infrastructure customers — megascale data centers, cloud providers, and AI system builders. We turn Marvell silicon into deployable platforms by working shoulder-to-shoulder with customer engineering teams from early architecture through production ramp.
Our engineers bring deep, hands-on expertise across hardware, software, and system integration. The close, trust-based collaboration we build with our customers — and with Marvell's silicon and engineering hardware teams — is foundational to Marvell's growth in networking, connectivity, and AI infrastructure.
What You Can Expect
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.
Expected Base Pay Range (USD)
177,820 - 266,400, $ per annum
The successful candidate’s starting base pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location and market conditions. The expected base pay range for this role may be modified based on market conditions.
This role is eligible to participate in Marvell's bonus and equity plans, including a new hire equity grant and annual equity refreshers, ensuring you are rewarded for your contributions and remain invested in the company's long-term success. Additional Compensation and Benefit Elements
Marvell is committed to providing exceptional, comprehensive benefits that support our employees at every stage - from internship to retirement and through life’s most important moments. Our offerings are built around four key pillars: financial well-being, family support, mental and physical health, and recognition. Highlights include an employee stock purchase plan with a 2-year look back, family support programs to help balance work and home life, robust mental health resources to prioritize emotional well-being, and a recognition and service awards to celebrate contributions and milestones. We look forward to sharing more with you during the interview process.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status.
Any applicant who requires a reasonable accommodation during the selection process should contact Marvell HR Helpdesk at TAOps marvell.com .
Interview Integrity
To support fair and authentic hiring practices, candidates are not permitted to use AI tools (such as transcription apps, real-time answer generators like ChatGPT or Copilot, or automated note-taking bots) during interviews.
These tools must not be used to record, assist with, or enhance responses in any way. Our interviews are designed to evaluate your individual experience, thought process, and communication skills in real time. Use of AI tools without prior instruction from the interviewer will result in disqualification from the hiring process.
This position may require access to technology and/or software subject to U.S. export control laws and regulations, including the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). As such, applicants must be eligible to access export-controlled information as defined under applicable law. Marvell may be required to obtain export licensing approval from the U.S. Department of Commerce and/or the U.S. Department of State. Except for U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, or protected individuals as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), all applicants may be subject to an export license review process prior to employment.
#LI-JS22
Application prep
Use the role’s language and application details while tailoring your materials.
Keywords to mirror
ai
- Platform
- workday
- Effort
- long