Principal Electrical Engineer - Server Hardware Validation

Archer; Burlington (MA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Archer, in collaboration with Oracle, seeks a Principal Electrical Engineer – Server Hardware Validation to join the OCI Hardware Engineering team on-site in Burlington, MA. You will lead complex validation across NPI and sustaining stages, shaping strategies, and driving RCCA with cross‑functional partners.

This hands-on role requires deep expertise in high‑speed signaling, power integrity, and test methodologies, with mentorship to engineers and collaboration with firmware, software, and

Qualifications

• Bachelors/Masters/PhD in Electrical or related field with extensive hardware validation expertise.
• Experience validating complex server hardware and computing platforms.
• Proven ability to lead validation and qualification efforts across product lifecycles.
• Hands-on experience with lab instrumentation and signal integrity concepts.

Responsibilities

• Lead system- and subsystem-level electrical validation for server hardware across NPI and sustaining engineering activities.
• Develop validation strategies, test plans, test coverage, procedures, and technical reports for complex hardware changes.
• Perform hands-on hardware troubleshooting and RCCA for board-, subsystem-, and server-level failures.
• Collaborate across hardware, firmware, software, OS, diagnostics, field service, and manufacturing teams.
• Drive corrective actions from investigation through implementation and validation.
• Lead qualification of alternate-source components and AVL activities.

Skills

Systems-level engineering

Validation & troubleshooting

Root-cause analysis

Analytical thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Documentation

Technical leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field

Master's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field

Doctorate in Electrical Engineering or related field

Tools

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Protocol analyzers

Differential probes

Python

Schematic capture / PCB design tools

Job description

Archer is collaborating with Oracle to connect them with exceptional professionals for this role.

About The Team

Lead critical hardware validation for the server and data center platforms powering Oracle’s next generation of cloud and AI infrastructure.

About the Role

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Hardware Engineering develops and supports the physical infrastructure behind Oracle Cloud from enterprise compute and storage servers to the hardware platforms that power large‑scale cloud, data center, and AI workloads.

We are seeking a Principal Electrical Engineer – Server Hardware Validation to join our OCI Hardware Engineering team On‑Site in Burlington, Massachusetts. This is a hands‑on technical role for an experienced electrical or hardware engineer who enjoys solving difficult problems at the board, subsystem, and server‑platform level.

You will lead complex hardware validation and sustaining engineering efforts throughout the product lifecycle, from New Product Introduction (NPI) through production. You will develop validation strategies, qualify components and alternate sources, investigate hardware failures, and work across engineering, suppliers, and manufacturing to drive issues to root cause and resolution.

This is a highly cross‑functional role requiring deep technical collaboration with firmware, software, operating system, and field service engineering teams to perform rigorous root‑cause analysis and rapidly develop, implement, and validate effective corrective actions.

This role works closely with our hardware lab in Burlington and provides an opportunity to have direct technical impact on the reliability, quality, and manufacturing continuity of Oracle's server infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Lead system- and subsystem-level electrical validation for server hardware across NPI and sustaining engineering activities.
• Develop validation strategies, test plans, test coverage, procedures, and technical reports for complex hardware changes and electrical subsystems.
• Perform hands‑on hardware troubleshooting, fault isolation, and rigorous root‑cause analysis (RCCA) for complex board-, subsystem-, server-, factory-, field-, and customer‑level failures.
• Collaborate deeply with firmware, software, operating system, diagnostics, field service, manufacturing, and other engineering teams to isolate issues and determine root cause.
• Drive corrective actions from investigation through implementation and validation, balancing technical rigor with the need to resolve critical hardware issues quickly.
• Lead qualification of alternate‑source components and support Approved Vendor List (AVL) and end‑of‑life component activities to maintain manufacturing continuity.
• Analyze complex hardware changes and determine appropriate validation coverage based on interactions across electrical subsystems, interfaces, firmware, software, and system configurations.
• Use high‑speed oscilloscopes, differential probes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, and other laboratory instrumentation to characterize and troubleshoot electrical behavior.
• Investigate signal integrity, power integrity, timing, noise, interoperability, and other electrical issues affecting system performance and reliability.
• Validate high‑speed interfaces and electrical subsystems across varying hardware, firmware, load, and environmental conditions.
• Partner with electrical design, CAD, suppliers, manufacturing, and other engineering teams on validation, qualification, and complex technical issues.
• Review schematics, component specifications, PCB layouts, and other engineering documentation as part of validation, qualification, and root‑cause investigations.
• Document specifications, validation plans, test results, technical findings, constraints, corrective actions, and engineering decisions.
• Contribute to formal design reviews and provide validation‑driven feedback to improve product quality, reliability, and manufacturability.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to other engineers, helping teams work through ambiguous and technically challenging validation and debug problems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field and 7+ years of relevant technical engineering experience; Master's degree and 5+ years; Doctorate and 3+ years; or 11+ years of relevant technical engineering experience without a degree.
• Strong systems‑level electrical or hardware engineering background, including validation and troubleshooting of complex computing, server, embedded, or related hardware platforms.
• Proven ability to develop and lead complex hardware validation and qualification efforts.
• Deep hands‑on proficiency with high‑speed oscilloscopes and laboratory instrumentation, including differential probes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, and related measurement tools.
• Strong knowledge of electrical signal integrity concepts, including timing, jitter, noise, and frequency‑domain analysis.
• Demonstrated ability to debug complex board‑ and subsystem‑level hardware issues using schematics, electrical measurements, test data, and systematic root‑cause analysis.
• Strong analytical, diagnostic, and problem‑solving skills with the ability to investigate ambiguous failures spanning multiple hardware and system domains.
• Ability to collaborate deeply across hardware, firmware, software, operating system, diagnostics, field service, manufacturing, supplier, and other engineering teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to clearly document and communicate complex technical findings.
• Technical leadership and mentoring skills, with the ability to guide engineers through complex validation, debug, and root‑cause investigations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Background in the design, validation, or sustaining of enterprise servers, data center infrastructure, or other large‑scale computing platforms.
• Knowledge of Intel, AMD, or Ampere processor‑based system architectures and NVIDIA or AMD GPU‑based server architectures.
• Familiarity with AI infrastructure and the hardware requirements of high‑performance GPU‑based computing platforms.
• High‑speed interface validation, electrical compliance testing, and Ethernet standards knowledge.
• Strong understanding of power integrity, power delivery, PMICs, signal integrity, and server electrical subsystems.
• Component and alternate‑source qualification, Approved Vendor List (AVL) management, and end‑of‑life component mitigation expertise.
• NPI and production hardware lifecycle knowledge, including qualification and sustaining activities after product launch.
• Proven success investigating customer, field, factory, or production hardware failures and driving RCCA and corrective actions through validation and closure.
• Proficiency with Linux and Windows environments and Python or similar programming languages for validation automation, data analysis, or test workflows.
• Familiarity with schematic capture, board‑level electrical design, FPGA‑based hardware, PCB layout, and design‑review processes.

Location

On‑Site | Burlington, MA

Minimum Job Qualifications

• Education And/or Experience: 11 years of experience in technical engineering
• OR Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field AND 7 years of experience in technical engineering
• OR Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field AND 5 years of experience in technical engineering
• OR Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field AND 3 years of experience in technical engineering.

Job Skills

Same as previous level plus;
Field‑Programmable Gate Array Design: Demonstrated skill in designing and validating FPGA‑based hardware solutions.

Electromagnetic Compatibility

5 years of experience in safety and electromagnetic compatibility compliance.