Staff Engineer - Silicon Validation Engineer

Davita Inc.; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 102,000 - 155,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in semiconductor solutions seeks an embedded firmware engineer to develop software drivers for high-speed ASIC SoCs. Responsibilities include maintaining drivers for various protocols and collaborating with design teams to document SoC features. Candidates should have a Bachelor's degree and at least 3 years of professional experience in software or electrical engineering.

Benefits

Flexible time off

401k plan

Floating holidays

Paid time off to volunteer

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional experience in software or electronic engineering.
• Expertise in NVMe over PCIe interface and embedded firmware development.
• Knowledge of at least one protocol specification like Ethernet, NVMe, PCIe, or CXL.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain embedded firmware for high-speed ASIC SoCs.
• Create kernel and user space drivers for various protocols.
• Conduct experiments and analyze data on the bench to ensure silicon viability.

Skills

Programming in C

Linux kernel development

Data analysis using Excel

Data analysis using Python

Troubleshooting skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Software/Computer/Electrical Engineering

Master's degree in Software/Computer/Electrical Engineering

Tools

Protocol analyzers

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Job description

About Marvell

Marvell's semiconductor solutions are the essential building blocks of the data infrastructure that connects our world. Across enterprise, cloud and AI, automotive, and carrier architectures, our innovative technology is enabling new possibilities.

At Marvell, you can affect the arc of individual lives, lift the trajectory of entire industries, and fuel the transformative potential of tomorrow. For those looking to make their mark on purposeful and enduring innovation, above and beyond fleeting trends, Marvell is a place to thrive, learn, and lead.

Your Team, Your Impact

The Marvell Validation group designs and develops pre- and post-silicon test platforms to validate multi-core ARM-based network and storage processors used in communication infrastructure, data center applications, and cloud storage and computing platforms.

Within the Validation group, the electrical characterization team is responsible for debugging and characterizing SerDes, DDR, and NAND flash PHY interfaces. The SerDes interfaces utilize NRZ and PAM4 signaling for Ethernet, CPRI, JESD, and PCIe, DRAM interfaces include LPDDR5 and DDR4/5 memory modules. Additionally, the characterization team develops test platforms and automated test suites to assess analog interfaces across process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) extremes, ensuring silicon viability for volume production.

What You Can Expect

• Develop and maintain embedded firmware and software drivers to control and validate high-speed ASIC SoCs across various product lines using custom evaluation systems under pre-silicon emulation platforms like FPGA/Zebu and post-silicon environments.

• Create and maintain kernel and user space drivers under Linux tailored to Marvell's controllers and high-speed I/O interfaces supporting Ethernet MAC/Phy, PCIe, NVMe, CXL protocols, and low-speed I/O interfaces such as I2C, I3C, SMBus, SPI, etc.

• Understand the I/O stack from host to device, including both hardware and software components.

• Develop and maintain host-side test application software under Linux OS.

• Conduct experiments and data collection on the bench, producing professional reports that detail experimental results.

• Collaborate with design and architecture teams to produce application notes, reference firmware, software libraries, and other technical documentation for new and existing SoC features.

• Analyze and visualize data using Excel and Python.

• Excellent troubleshooting skills to resolve silicon issues and provide technical/debug support to customers.

What We're Looking For

• Bachelor's degree in software, Computer or Electrical Engineering, with 3+ years professional experience and/or Master's degree in Software, Computer or Electrical Engineering in the following domains - Pre-Si Validation, Post-Si Validation, Stress & PVT testing.

• Proficiency in NVMe over PCIe interface.

• Experience with MCTP/MI over PCIe VDM or SMBus.

• Controller firmware programming in C using ARM cores, with familiarity in concurrent programming models under multi-core CPU architectures.

• Expertise in Linux kernel I/O driver development and debugging.

• Experience in Linux user space I/O driver development and debugging using the SPDK/DPDK stack.

• Familiarity with hardware equipment such as protocol analyzers, oscilloscopes, and logic analyzers. Proficiency in Excel and Python programming.

• Knowledge of at least one protocol specification like Ethernet, NVMe, PCIe, or CXL.

• Familiarity with at least one low-speed I/O interface such as I2C, I3C, SMBus, SPI, or UART.

Expected Base Pay Range (USD)

102,880 - 154,100, $ per annum

The successful candidate's starting base pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location and market conditions. The expected base pay range for this role may be modified based on market conditions.

Additional Compensation and Benefit Elements

At Marvell, we offer a total compensation package with a base, bonus and equity.Health and financial wellbeing are part of the package. That means flexible time off, 401k, plus a year-end shutdown, floating holidays, paid time off to volunteer. Have a question about our benefits packages - health or financial? Ask your recruiter during the interview process.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status.

Any applicant who requires a reasonable accommodation during the selection process should contact Marvell HR Helpdesk at [e-mail].

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