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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Senior Principal Engineer (Board & System Hardware Design AI & Cloud Infrastructure) - **Company:** Macpower Digital Assets Edge LLC - **Location:** Santa Clara, CA, United States - **Experience:** Expert - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Board Bringup, Artificial Intelligence, Computing Platforms, Cloud Computing, Computer Engineering, Data Centers, Software Debugging, Ethernet, Hardware Design, PCI Express, Software Reliability Testing, Network Switches, Computer Networking Systems - **Published:** October 29, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.thejobnetwork.com/job/2be07189-1659-4bc7-b5f2-8d4efd5e083a/senior-principal-engineer-board-system-hardware-design-ai-cloud-infrastructure ## About the Role * 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., * 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. ## Description * As Senior Principal Engineer (Board & System Hardware Design AI & Cloud Infrastructure), you will be the senior technical authority guiding customer hardware design-in on the Ethernet Switch and UALink platforms, and a key technical bridge between the 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 the evolution toward 224G and 448G SerDes-class systems and the emerging open AI fabric standards. Role & Responsibilities: * Serve as the senior technical advisor to customer hardware teams designing platforms around the 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 silicon partnering with silicon, packaging, and internal HW engineering teams from early product definition through customer release. * Work closely with 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 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 teams covering core 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 the 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 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 the organization's hardware expertise in customer briefings, executive reviews, and industry technical forums., 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 the most strategic customer engagements. * Serve as a key technical interface between customers, 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 customer-facing hardware solutions and influence next-generation product evolution. * Act as a technical ambassador, representing the hardware capabilities to top-tier customers and partners. * Travel as needed to customer sites, ODMs, and labs typically project-driven rather than continuous.