Principal Engineer - Validation

Job Title

Principal Engineer - Validation

Role Summary

Principal Engineer responsible for planning and executing validation of SSD firmware for Micron NAND-based systems. Work spans functional, system-level and customer-qualification testing and requires coordination with hyperscale/datacenter customers and cross-functional product teams.

Experience Level

Senior — typically 8+ years (posting references 8–14 years in embedded firmware or 8+ years in SSD product validation).

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities focus on test planning, execution, and cross-team collaboration to ensure SSD firmware quality.

• Define validation strategy, create test plans and test cases for SSD firmware (functional, system, and customer qualification tests).
• Develop and maintain test scripts and test content targeting IO workloads, NVMe/PCIe protocols, Flash Translation Layer and NAND media management.
• Debug protocol and firmware issues (NVMe/PCIe) using protocol analyzers and other tools; perform root-cause analysis.
• Integrate tests into automated test environments and collaborate with execution teams to drive validation timelines.
• Coordinate with hyperscale/datacenter customers throughout the product lifecycle to address customer requirements and quality concerns.
• Review, track and document test results and findings; drive issues to closure with product development teams.
• Communicate program status, risks and metrics to stakeholders.

Requirements

Key skills and experience required or strongly preferred. Education details are listed separately below.

• Must-have: Strong understanding of NVMe and PCIe specifications and practical experience debugging NVMe protocol issues with protocol analyzers (e.g., Lecroy/JDSU).
• Must-have: Hands-on experience preparing test plans covering IO workloads, NVMe protocol behavior, FTL and NAND media management.
• Must-have: Proficiency in Python for test development and scripting; experience debugging on Windows and Linux.
• Must-have: Deep knowledge of system storage and interactions with CPU, memory, PCIe, drivers, OS and firmware.
• Must-have: Experience integrating tests into automated environments and collaborating across hardware, firmware and software teams.
• Must-have: Strong analytical, problem-solving, project management and communication skills; ability to work independently and with customers.
• Preferred: Experience with datacenter compute/storage platforms (e.g., Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware vSphere/VSAN).
• Preferred: Experience validating SSD firmware using UNH and PCIe-CV test suites and prior SSD product validation experience for NAND-based systems.
• Preferred: Familiarity using AI tools to support code generation, report generation and debugging activities.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or a related engineering discipline (as stated in the posting).

About the Company

Company: Micron Technology

Headquarters: Boise, Idaho, USA

Micron Technology is a global leader in memory and storage solutions, dedicated to transforming how the world uses information. The company offers a diverse portfolio of high-performance DRAM, NAND, and NOR memory products under the Micron and Crucial brands. With a commitment to customer focus and technological innovation, Micron drives advancements in artificial intelligence, 5G, and other data-centric applications, empowering users to learn, communicate, and progress.