Principal SSD Applications Engineer

Job Title

Principal SSD Applications Engineer

Role Summary

The Principal SSD Applications Engineer is the customer-facing technical lead for SSD products, responsible for resolving complex customer issues, enabling customers and field teams, and ensuring successful qualification, deployment, and production ramp of SSD solutions.

This role coordinates cross-functional engineering, validation, quality, product management, and ecosystem partners to drive product readiness, firmware releases, documentation, and sustained customer support.

Experience Level

Senior - typically requires 13+ years of relevant experience in SSD technologies, storage systems, firmware, hardware, applications, validation, or technical support.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include customer-facing technical leadership, issue resolution, qualification support, firmware release management, documentation, and enablement.

• Lead complex customer investigations: issue replication, Level 1 debugging, root cause and failure analysis; manage escalations to resolution using Jira or equivalent.
• Prioritize customer issues, track turnaround times, manage escalations, and coordinate cross-functional teams and ecosystem partners.
• Support customer qualification, platform integration, deployment, production ramp, sustaining activities, and post-deployment support.
• Perform Level 1 performance testing, workload characterization, performance analysis, interoperability testing, and technical troubleshooting.
• Manage firmware release processes: planning, change lists, deployment readiness, documentation, approvals, and customer communications.
• Create and maintain customer-facing technical collateral: datasheets, application notes, errata, troubleshooting guides, and release communications.
• Deliver technical training, mentoring, and knowledge transfer to FAEs, CQEs, TCMs, and support teams; align execution with schedules and customer priorities.
• Provide ownership for SSD management and diagnostic tools (e.g., MSECLI, SuperDM, Storage Executive) and coordinate tool enablement and issue resolution.
• Drive Design-for-Debug initiatives and incorporate field feedback into MRDs, readiness activities, and roadmap planning.

Requirements

Must-have technical experience, leadership skills, and proven customer escalation capability.

• 13+ years of relevant experience in SSD technologies, storage systems, firmware, hardware, applications, product or validation engineering, or technical support.
• Deep expertise in SSD architecture, NAND flash, storage controllers, and storage protocols including NVMe, PCIe, SATA, and SAS.
• Proven experience leading customer escalations, issue replication, debugging, root cause and failure analysis.
• Experience supporting qualification, deployment, production ramp, sustaining activities, and firmware release management.
• Experience coordinating cross-functional technical investigations and managing issues through resolution with Jira or similar tools.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, prioritization, data-driven decision-making, and stakeholder management skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and the ability to translate technical findings for different audiences.
• Demonstrated technical leadership and ability to influence decisions across global matrixed organizations.

• Experience with SSD performance characterization, workload analysis, validation methodologies, interoperability testing, and PCR/MRD processes.
• Familiarity with SSD diagnostic tools, automation frameworks, and scripting (Python, PowerShell, Perl, Shell) for validation and analysis.
• Experience working with OEMs, hyperscalers, cloud providers, and large-scale storage environments.
• Experience applying AI to engineering workflows, issue triage, automation, or knowledge management.

Education Requirements

Required: Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical discipline. Preferred: Master’s degree in a related technical field. Equivalent combinations of education, training, certifications, and experience may be considered.

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.