Senior Staff SSD Debug Engineer - 2270

KIOXIA America, Inc.; Folsom (CA); On-site; USD 134,000 - 223,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Career growth and training

Flexible work options

Generous PTO and holidays

401(k) matching

Pet insurance

Job summary

KIOXIA America, Inc. is seeking an SSD Debug Engineer to triage and debug data center SSD failures. You will collaborate with Product Support Engineering to root cause issues, drive action plans, and deliver customer‑acceptable solutions in high‑pressure situations.

The role requires strong NVMe/PCIe expertise, firmware development in C, and the ability to work with global teams across time zones. Domestic and international travel is expected.

Qualifications

• Proven NVMe and PCIe protocol experience debugging complex SSD issues.
• SSD Firmware architecture and/or validation/test experience.
• SSD Firmware development/debug experience in C programming.
• Excellent understanding of debug tools: PCIe protocol analyzers, Oscilloscope, Linux tools.
• Data center/server storage knowledge and experience.
• Open-Source SSD Tools, such as, NVMe-CLI, FIO.
• Good understanding of Open Compute Platform (OCP) specifications.
• Experience with Telemetry, Host logs (dmesg, event logs), Firmware trace logs.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills (English).
• Able to travel when and where needed - both domestic and international.

Responsibilities

• Root cause analysis for data center SSD failures on hyperscale server platforms, isolating issues across host, transport, firmware and media.
• Drive cross-functional debug with firmware, platform, and customer teams, define reproducible test cases and drive corrective actions to closure.
• Collaborate across globally distributed engineering teams, driving technical issue resolution across time zones.
• Analyze host and telemetry logs, correlate failures with firmware source code and hardware behavior, and drive root cause to closure.
• Work on development of debug firmware in C programming across the SSD firmware stack to accelerate the root cause analysis.
• Work on troubleshooting SSD performance issues and reduce tail latencies and improve IOPS and throughput.
• Perform required lab work to replicate the reported issues.
• Create 8D/failure analysis reports and explain to the customer.
• Write product use-case technical white papers as needed.

Skills

NVMe/PCIe debugging

SSD firmware development

Data center/storage knowledge

Verbal & written communication

Willing to travel

Education

B.S. in Computer Engineering or equivalent

M.S. in Computer Engineering or equivalent

Tools

PCIe protocol analyzers

Oscilloscope

Linux tools

NVMe-CLI

FIO

Job description

Company Description

No Relocation Assistance Provided.

KIOXIA America, Inc. is the U.S.-based subsidiary of KIOXIA Corporation, a leading worldwide supplier of flash memory and solid state drives (SSDs). From the invention of flash memory to today's breakthrough BiCS FLASH 3D flash memory technology, KIOXIA continues to pioneer innovative memory, SSD and software solutions that enrich people's lives and expand society's horizons. The company's innovative BiCS FLASH 3D flash memory technology is shaping the future of storage in high-density applications, including advanced smartphones, PCs, SSDs, automotive, and data centers.

Job Description

As an SSD Debug Engineer, your primary role is to triage and debug SSD drive failures for our data center SSD product line. In this role, you will work closely with the Product Support Engineering team to assist with resolution of customer qualification issues and lead activities to root cause failures. This includes tracking multiple issues and driving stakeholders to deliver in high-pressure situations. The candidate will be a critical stakeholder in the decision-making process with an emphasis on providing solutions that are acceptable to customers.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Root cause analysis for data center SSD failures on hyperscale server platforms, isolating issues across host, transport, firmware and media.
• Drive cross-functional debug with firmware, platform, and customer teams, define reproducible test cases and drive corrective actions to closure.
• Collaborate across globally distributed engineering teams, driving technical issue resolution across time zones.
• Analyze host and telemetry logs, corelate failures with firmware source code and hardware behavior, and drive root cause to closure.
• Work on development of debug firmware in C programming across the SSD firmware stack to accelerate the root cause analysis.
• Work on troubleshooting SSD performance issues and reduce tail latencies and improve IOPS and throughput.
• Perform required lab work to replicate the reported issues
• Create 8D/failure analysis reports and explain to the customer
• Write product use-case technical white papers as needed

Qualifications

BS degree in computer engineering or equivalent field with minimum 10 years of experience in a technical related field or MS degree in computer engineering or equivalent field with minimum 8 years of experience in a technical related field.

• Proven NVMe and PCIe protocol experience debugging complex SSD issues
• SSD Firmware architecture and/or validation/test experience
• SSD Firmware development/debug experience in C programming.
• Excellent understanding of debug tools: PCIe protocol analyzers. Oscilloscope, Linux tools.
• Data center/server storage knowledge and experience
• Open-Source SSD Tools, such as, NVMe-CLI, FIO
• Good understanding of Open Compute Platform (OCP) specifications
• Experience with Telemetry, Host logs (dmesg, event logs), Firmware trace logs
• Strong verbal and written communication skills (English)
• Able to travel when and where needed - both domestic and international

Additional Information

Req#2270; #LI-CB1

The expected salary for this position is $133,960.00 - $223,270.00.

• Investment in you
  • Offering opportunities for career growth and personal development training
• Open-minded management
  • Empowering employees by listening and responding to ideas, issues, and approaches
• Flexible work-life balance
  • Offering a generous PTO allotment, holiday shutdown, and flexible work options
• Variety of cultures, perspectives, backgrounds and experiences of all our team members
  • Through our opportunity, belonging and respect initiatives, our focus is to strengthen our company culture to create an environment of belonging for all
• Benefits for our team members
  • Excellent medical and non-medical benefits, 401(k) matching, pet insurance

KIOXIA America, Inc. provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Videos To Watchhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6ZO5PH6kQo&ab_channel=KIOXIAEurope