Senior Hardware Validation Engineer

Renesas Electronics; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 115,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Renesas Electronics in San Jose, CA seeks a Sr Hardware Validation engineer to act as embedded hardware domain expert. You will drive validation objectives, mentor teams, and ensure robust hardware platforms across SoC, PMIC, and high-speed interfaces.

You'll own hardware execution from ideation to production readiness and collaborate with systems, firmware, and platform teams. Responsibilities include prototype bring-up, bench testing, and documentation; mitigate risks; contribute to reference

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Electrical Engineering with 5–7 years of hardware design.
• 5–7 years embedded hardware and system design and validation experience.
• Strong understanding of SoC architecture and ARM cores.
• Experience validating high-speed interfaces (DDR, USB, PCIe, MIPI, Ethernet).
• Knowledge of C/C++ or embedded firmware development.
• Hands-on with lab test equipment (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers).
• Familiar with validation frameworks and issue tracking (JIRA, Bugzilla).
• Strong leadership and collaboration skills.
• SI/PI analysis experience.
• Schematic, PCB layout, stack-up and grounding practices.
• Experienced delivering embedded hardware from concept to production.

Responsibilities

• Lead hardware validation planning and execution of embedded products, applications and solutions utilizing a wide portfolio of Renesas products.
• Drive hardware technical decisions, ensuring robustness, usability and completeness of hardware platforms.
• Own hardware execution from ideation, validation through qualification and production readiness.
• Collaborate with systems, firmware/software, validation, and product engineering teams for HW-SW integration.
• Identify and mitigate hardware-related risks, ensuring highest user experience.
• Plan and execute new product prototype bring-up, bench-testing, and evaluation.
• Support creation and review of technical documentation (Datasheets, User Manuals/Guides, App Notes).
• Feedback findings and improvements to product teams.
• Contribute to reference designs and development platforms to enable broad customer adoption.
• Act as a technical mentor and raise the bar for hardware design excellence.

Skills

Embedded hardware

ARM cores

C/C++

Lab tools

JIRA

Debug utilities

Signal Integrity

Power Integrity

Schematic design

PCB layout

Leadership

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Master's degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

JTAG

Lauterbach

OpenOCD

Bugzilla

Oscilloscopes

Logic Analyzers

Job description

The Sr Hardware Validation engineer serves as embedded hardware domain expert, driving product and platform design quality, evaluation and validation objectives, and technical execution while collaborating closely with systems, firmware/software, validation, and platform develop teams.

Job Description

• Lead hardware validation planning and execution of embedded products, applications and solutions utilizing a wide portfolio of Renesas products
• Drive hardware technical decisions, ensuring robustness, usability and completeness of hardware platforms
• Own hardware execution from ideation, validation through qualification and production readiness.
• Collaborate closely with systems, firmware/software, validation, and product engineering teams to ensure seamless hardware-software integration.
• Identify and mitigate hardware-related technical risks, ensuring highest user experience
• Planning and execution of new product prototype bring-up, bench-testing, and evaluation.
• Support creation and review of technical documentation (Datasheets, User Manuals/Guides, Application Notes etc)
• Feedback findings, issues, potential improvements to product development teams
• Contribute to reference designs, development platforms, and documentation to enable broad customer adoption.
• Act as a technical mentor, influencing best practices and raising the bar for hardware design excellence.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Computer Engineering, with at least 5- 7 years of experience
• 5-7 years of experience in embedded hardware and system design and validation encompassing microcontrollers, power management and analog/mixed-signal products
• Strong understanding of SoC architecture, ARM cores (A/M series), peripherals, power/clock/reset, and low-power design techniques.
• Very good understanding of electronic components like PMICs, MOSFETs, GaN, and other discretes
• Experience validating high-speed interfaces (e.g., DDR, USB, PCIe, MIPI, Ethernet) and standard protocols (SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, etc.).
• Knowledge of C/C++ or embedded programming for firmware development
• Hands-on experience with lab tools (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power analyzers, thermal sensors).
• Familiarity with validation frameworks, debug utilities (JTAG, Lauterbach, OpenOCD), and issue tracking systems (JIRA, Bugzilla).
• Strong leadership, communication, and collaboration skills.
• Hands-on experience with Signal Integrity (SI) and Power Integrity (PI) analysis for high-speed digital, mixed-signal, and power-dense designs.
• Applying best practices in schematic design, PCB layout, stack-up definition, decoupling strategies, and grounding.
• Proven experience delivering embedded hardware designs from concept through production.

Additional Information

The expected annual pay range for this position is $115,000-$150,000K. This position is also eligible for bonus opportunities. Please note that final offer amount will be dependent on geographic location, applicable experience, and skillset of the candidate.

Renesas is an embedded semiconductor solution provider driven by its Purpose, To Make Our Lives Easier. With a global team of over 21,000 engineers and problem solvers in more than 30 countries, we offer the opportunity to work on world‑leading technology for Automotive, Industrial, Infrastructure, and IoT, shaping a safer, healthier, greener, and smarter future.

At Renesas, TAGIE is our culture, grounded in being Transparent, Agile, Global, Innovative, and Entrepreneurial. It shapes how we work, grow and deliver on our purpose together. This collaborative spirit and mindset drive our semiconductor technology to transform industries and impact millions of lives.

We believe in rewarding our employees with a competitive benefits package alongside their salary. More information will be provided during the hiring process.

Renesas Electronics is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer, committed to supporting diversity and fostering a work environment free of discrimination on the basis of sex, race, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, military status, veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. For more information, please read ourDiversity & Inclusion Statement .

Renesas Electronics deals with dual-use technology that is subject to U.S. export controls regulations. Under these regulations it may be necessary for Renesas to obtain U.S. government export license prior to release of technology to certain persons. The decision whether or not to file or pursue an export license application is at the sole discretion of Renesas.