Senior Staff Engineer - Product validation

Sandisk; Milpitas (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Sandisk seeks an experienced Senior Staff Engineer to lead cross‑platform validation of next‑gen NVMe SSD products. You will architect scalable validation strategies, mentor engineers, and drive engineering excellence across firmware, hardware, QA, and tools teams.

You will optimize test architectures, implement robust interop workflows, and ensure customer‑grade quality at scale, partnering with multiple groups to shape product readiness and release decisions.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in SSD validation, platform integration, or storage system engineering.
• Deep expertise in NVMe command flows, PCIe link behavior, Linux/Windows storage paths.
• Hands-on experience with fio and multi-threaded stress workloads.
• Automation proficiency with Python, Bash, and PowerShell.

Responsibilities

• Lead system validation and interoperability strategy across platforms and OSes.
• Architect scalable validation strategies and test architectures.
• Accelerate root‑cause isolation and triage for failures.
• Collaborate with FW, HW, Validation, Tools, and Architecture teams.
• Mentor engineers and uplift system‑level engineering practices.
• Improve test coverage efficiency and reduce execution cycles.
• Define validation KPIs and gating criteria.

Skills

NVMe internals

PCIe behavior

Linux OS internals

Automation: Python/Bash/PowerShell

Education

BS/MS in EE/CE/CS or related field

Tools

fio

Job description

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

We're looking for an experienced Senior Staff Engineer to lead complex, cross-platform system validation and interoperability efforts for our next‑generation NVMe SSD products. You will shape technical direction within the group, architect scalable validation strategies, and drive engineering excellence across adjacent teams (firmware, hardware, QA, tools/automation). This role combines deep technical expertise with hands‑on leadership, designing robust test architectures, elevating standards, and mentoring engineers to deliver high‑impact, customer‑grade quality at scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead system integration strategy for functional, stress, and interoperability validation across diverse platforms and operating systems.
• Develop scalable automation for system‑level workflows, including NVMe functional tests, reset/boot flows, PCIe behaviors, and telemetry/FTDC collection.
• Drive system‑level triage by identifying failure domains, improving debug repeatability, and accelerating root‑cause isolation.
• Collaborate across FW, HW, Validation, Tools, and Architecture to ensure system behaviors and issues inform design and release decisions.
• Enhance productivity by improving test coverage efficiency, reducing execution cycle time, and optimizing platform readiness.
• Introduce new methodologies for system interop, workload generation, stress scenarios, and validation quality gating.
• Mentor engineers, uplift technical practices, and strengthen system‑level engineering rigor.

Required

• BS/MS in EE/CE/CS or related field with 10+ years in SSD validation, platform integration, or storage system engineering.
• Deep expertise in: NVMe command/admin flows, queues, error‑recovery PCIe link behavior, LTSSM, training, ASPM, surprise/hot removal Linux (blk‑mq, IO scheduler, kern logs) and Windows storage paths Server‑class BIOS/UEFI, ACPI, power/thermal states, crash dump flows.
• Robust hands‑on experience with fio, multi‑threaded stress patterns, and high‑complexity system workloads.
• Automation proficiency with Python (preferred), Bash, and PowerShell.

Preferred

• Prior ownership of system‑level integration or interop validation for enterprise/cloud SSDs or server platforms.
• Knowledge of FTDC frameworks, telemetry analysis, automated RCA workflows, or system‑level coverage design.
• Familiarity with validation KPIs such as DPPM, escape metrics, and system‑level coverage modeling.
• Experience debugging across firmware, PCIe electrical, drivers, OS internals, and system microcode interactions.

Sandisk is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate against any applicant or employee based on their race, color, ancestry, religion (including religious dress and grooming standards), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), gender (including a person's gender identity, gender expression, and gender‑related appearance and behavior, whether or not stereotypically associated with the person's assigned sex at birth), age, national origin, sexual orientation, medical condition, marital status (including domestic partnership status), physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, protected medical and family care leave, Civil Air Patrol status, military and veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. We also prohibit harassment of any individual on any of the characteristics listed above. Our non‑discrimination policy applies to all aspects of employment. We comply with the laws and regulations set forth in the "Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal" poster. Our pay transparency policy is available here .

Sandisk thrives on the power and potential of diversity. As a global company, we believe the most effective way to embrace the diversity of our customers and communities is to mirror it from within. We believe the fusion of various perspectives results in the best outcomes for our employees, our company, our customers, and the world around us. We are committed to an inclusive environment where every individual can thrive through a sense of belonging, respect and contribution.

Sandisk is committed to offering opportunities to applicants with disabilities and ensuring all candidates can successfully navigate our careers website and our hiring process.

Based on our experience, we anticipate that the application deadline will be 12/10/2026 (3 months from posting), although we reserve the right to close the application process sooner if we hire an applicant for this position before the application deadline.

If we are not able to hire