Lead Hardware Design Validation Engineer

Job Title

Lead Hardware Design Validation Engineer

Role Summary

Lead a team responsible for end-to-end hardware design validation for NVIDIA GPU, datacenter and automotive platforms. The role covers validation strategy, execution from bring-up through mass production, cross-functional coordination, and scalable lab/automation development.

Work closely with design, firmware, manufacturing, vendors, and partner teams to ensure product readiness, drive root-cause analysis, and improve production yield.

Experience Level

Senior — typically requires 8+ years of related experience and a proven track record as a technical lead for shipping hardware products.

Responsibilities

Accountable for validation strategy and delivery across system and production stages.

• Own end-to-end product validation from architecture/design through bring-up and mass production: set strategies, define test plans, and track release readiness.
• Lead and mentor design validation engineers; coordinate related validation teams (thermal, EMI, reliability) and manufacturing partners.
• Serve as the technical owner for validation status, risks, and milestones; represent validation in executive and cross-functional reviews.
• Define and execute system-level test plans covering power, high-speed IO, low-speed IO, clocks/resets, BMC/manageability, sensors, telemetry, firmware, and full-system functional/stress validation.
• Guide manufacturing test approaches; support production troubleshooting and yield improvement.
• Lead system-level debugging and root-cause analysis across silicon, board, signal integrity, firmware, and software.
• Build scalable validation automation and laboratory infrastructure across product lines.

Requirements

Core qualifications and practical skills required to perform the role.

• Must-have:
  • Proven leadership and experience leading validation through an entire product cycle from bring-up to mass production.
  • Strong system troubleshooting across silicon, board, signal integrity, firmware, OS, and applications.
  • Hands-on power validation experience (PDN, regulators, sequencing, telemetry, protection).
  • Expertise in high-speed IO electrical validation (PCIe, SerDes, Ethernet, USB, display).
  • Proficiency with low-speed IO (I2C, SPI, UART, JTAG, SMBus, reference clocks).
  • System functional and stress test experience to expose marginality and corner-case failures.
  • Comfortable with lab equipment, scripting, and Linux environments; experience with driver/firmware debug.
  • Experience creating manufacturing test plans and working with OPs/CM/OEM teams for production debug and yield improvement.
  • Willingness to travel to local manufacturing sites near Santa Clara (~up to 5%).
• Nice-to-have:
  • Validation leadership for GPU, server, automotive platforms, or AI accelerators from first silicon to mass production.
  • Datacenter platform experience (high-density power, liquid cooling, BMC/manageability).
  • Willingness to travel internationally during NPI peaks (primarily Asia) up to ~8%.

Education Requirements

BS or higher in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent technical field is preferred; the posting allows equivalent practical experience as an alternative ("BS+ in EE/CE or equivalent experience").

About the Company

Company: NVIDIA

Headquarters: Santa Clara, California, USA

NVIDIA is a global leader in accelerated computing, renowned for its innovative solutions in AI and digital twins that transform diverse industries. The company specializes in networking technologies, providing end-to-end InfiniBand and Ethernet solutions for servers and storage that optimize performance and scalability. NVIDIA serves sectors such as high-performance computing, enterprise data centers, and cloud computing, constantly reinventing its products and services to stay ahead in the market.