Principal Test Design Staff Engineer - Networking

NVIDIA Corporation; California; On-site; USD 232,000 - 368,000; Full time

Job summary

NVIDIA’s Santa Clara-based Test Design Engineering group designs, develops, validates, and deploys production test solutions for our networking portfolio, including NICs, SmartNICs and DPUs, NVLink systems, and Ethernet switches. This role partners with engineering and operations to shape test strategies, coordinate technical decisions, and reuse software and test capabilities across platform test levels.

Hands-on production testing experience is essential, as is experience with CM/JDM/ODM

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or Information Systems (or equivalent experience).
• 15+ years of experience in product engineering, including technical leadership in production operations for systems such as PCs, servers, or networking devices.
• Hands-on experience developing software and production test solutions.
• Experience defining test strategies that balance coverage, reliability, test time, and manufacturing requirements.
• Background with working directly with contract manufacturers (CMs), joint design manufacturers (JDMs), and original design manufacturers (ODMs).
• Experience defining statements of work (SOWs), developing test plans, and coordinating test release deployment at manufacturing sites.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Santa Clara test engineering teams to develop production tests for platforms that combine networking ASICs, MCUs, and other components.
• Guide test architecture, coverage, and failure diagnosis for complex hardware platforms, drawing on your experience developing and deploying production tests.
• Work with security teams to incorporate security requirements into test methods and workflows.
• Coordinate technical decisions, priorities, and dependencies across teams so TDE’s roadmap stays aligned with GPU engineering and platform development.
• Collaborate with CPU and GPU test diagnostics teams to reuse software, components, and test flows, with a focus on shared capabilities across L10 and L11 system test levels.
• Participate in new platform projects from the planning stage, bringing TDE’s requirements and expertise into design and test decisions.

Skills

Production testing

Software development

Test strategy

Cross-team collaboration

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in CS/EE/IS

Job description

NVIDIA’s Test Design Engineering (TDE) group designs, develops, validates, and deploys production test solutions for our networking portfolio, including network interface cards (NICs), SmartNICs and DPUs, NVLink systems, and Ethernet switches. Our teams in Israel and Vietnam support testing at contract manufacturer (CM) production sites worldwide. In this Santa Clara-based role, you will connect TDE with NVIDIA’s engineering and operations teams. You will help shape test strategies, coordinate technical decisions, and bring shared software and test capabilities into networking production testing. Your experience with production testing and systems such as servers, PC reference validation platforms (RVPs), and other multi-component hardware will help teams develop test solutions that meet both engineering requirements and manufacturing needs.

What you’ll be doing:

• Partner with Santa Clara test engineering teams to develop production tests for platforms that combine networking ASICs, microcontrollers (MCUs), and other components.
• Guide test architecture, coverage, and failure diagnosis for complex hardware platforms, drawing on your experience developing and deploying production tests.
• Work with security teams to incorporate security requirements into test methods and workflows.
• Coordinate technical decisions, priorities, and dependencies across teams so TDE’s roadmap stays aligned with GPU engineering and platform development.
• Collaborate with CPU and GPU test diagnostics teams to reuse software, components, and test flows, with a focus on shared capabilities across L10 and L11 system test levels.
• Participate in new platform projects from the planning stage, bringing TDE’s requirements and expertise into design and test decisions.
• Help teams evaluate and adapt existing test capabilities to reduce duplicate development and shorten production timelines.
• Represent TDE in technical discussions, planning sessions, and reviews.
• Connect colleagues with the information and support they need to resolve issues.

What we need to see:

• A bachelor’s or master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or Information Systems (or equivalent experience).
• 15+ years of experience in product engineering, including technical leadership in production operations for systems such as PCs, servers, or networking devices.
• Hands‑on experience developing software and production test solutions.
• Experience defining test strategies that balance coverage, reliability, test time, and manufacturing requirements.
• Background with working directly with contract manufacturers (CMs), joint design manufacturers (JDMs), and original design manufacturers (ODMs).
• Experience defining statements of work (SOWs), developing test plans, and coordinating test release deployment at manufacturing sites.
• Experience guiding technical decisions and coordinating delivery across engineering and operations teams.
• The ability to explain technical tradeoffs, build agreement across teams, and support collaboration across locations and time zones.

We provide competitive salaries and generous benefits. We are widely regarded as one of the technology world’s most desirable employers. Our outstanding teams are growing fast due to unparalleled growth. Our people are thoughtful and dedicated. If you’re creative and autonomous with a passion for your work, we want to hear from you!

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is 232,000 USD - 368,000 USD. You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until October19,2026. This posting is for an existing vacancy. NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

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