Senior System Management Architect

Job Title

Senior System Management Architect

Role Summary

Join the Host Management Team to define system- and board-level management for SmartNIC-based data center platforms. Lead architecture for production, provisioning, management, power, and reset flows that coordinate NIC ASICs, BMCs, MCUs, CPUs, and CPLDs.

Own lifecycle management specifications from factory provisioning through deployment, updates, recovery, and secure reset flows; translate architecture into implementable and testable designs.

Experience Level

Senior — typically requires 8+ years of relevant industry experience.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include defining system management architecture, security provisioning, protocol specifications, and cross-functional leadership.

• Define production, provisioning, update, recovery, and reset flows for SmartNIC boards and ensure alignment with platform-level needs.
• Specify security provisioning: OTP fusing, secure boot enablement, attestation key injection, certificate chain management, RPMC key derivation, and PQC requirements.
• Specify and standardize management protocols (MCTP, PLDM, SPDM, NC-SI) across internal board interfaces for secure boot, firmware updates, and telemetry.
• Define CPLD logic requirements, power-sequencing dependencies, and reset orchestration (including PCIe PERST#, SBR, forced resets) for multi-host and standalone environments.
• Architect intra-board communication using PCIe, I2C/I3C, USB, and SPI to support robust out-of-band and in-band management.
• Collaborate with Production, Hardware and Firmware Engineering, NIC firmware/driver teams, and QA to implement and validate specifications.
• Author technical specifications, test plans, state-machine descriptions, and architectural design documents for development and factory production.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience:

• Proven system-level design experience with SmartNIC boards, chassis, or network tray architectures.
• Hands-on device-level experience debugging or architecting flows involving BMCs (e.g., OpenBMC), MCUs, CPUs, and complex networking ASICs.
• Working knowledge of platform management and security protocols: MCTP, PLDM, SPDM, and NC-SI.
• Deep familiarity with board-level buses and interconnects: I2C, I3C, SPI, USB, and PCIe (link states and reset mechanisms).
• Strong analytical documentation skills: clear technical specifications, sequence diagrams, and state-machine descriptions.
• 8+ years of relevant industry experience.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with Redfish API definitions and out-of-band network infrastructure.
• Familiarity with hardware root of trust (HRoT / eROT) concepts and secure boot architectures.
• Experience with PLDM firmware update bundle packaging and update-agent implementation.
• Experience with production line tooling, factory provisioning, and manufacturing test flows.
• Networking experience with SmartNIC data-plane, offload operations, or high-speed data center topologies.

Education Requirements

Typically requires a BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.

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.