Systems Debug Engineer – Data Center HWE

Apple Inc.; Sunnyvale, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 278,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical and dental coverage

Apple Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Relocation assistance

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

Apple Inc. is seeking a Systems Debug Engineer to provide hands‑on support for data center development programs and labs. You will triage, debug, and perform failure analysis across silicon validation, software, hardware test, and reliability teams in a cross‑functional lab environment.

You will set up data center hardware, run tests on pre‑production hardware, and document results, collaborating with hardware development, validation, and software teams to scale lab deployments.

Qualifications

• BS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• 4–8 years in systems engineering, hardware integration, or manufacturing engineering in a server or HPC environment.
• Hands‑on experience with SoC troubleshooting, board‑level debug, failure analysis and diagnostics.

Responsibilities

• Handle data center escalations end-to-end—analyze, reproduce, and root‑cause complex issues across design, prototyping, validation, and production.
• Pilot proof‑of‑concept hardware and software, and prepare new platforms for at‑scale deployment in the data center.
• Build scripts and tools to provision hardware, analyze large data sets and logs, and run benchmarking frameworks.
• Support early product development by setting up custom and OEM data center hardware, running functional checks and documenting results.
• Ensure downstream teams successfully adopt and integrate new hardware platforms.
• Support physical and remote lab activities to enable new programs and cross‑functional teams.
• Create reports, dashboards and presentations for high priority escalations.

Skills

SoC troubleshooting

Board‑level debugging

Python

Bash

Kernel logs

SDLC/validation workflows

Education

BS in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering

Tools

Ansible

PXE/Netboot

JTAG/CI hardware tools

Job description

As a Systems Debug Engineer, you will provide hands‑on support for our data center development programs and labs. You’ll work in a cross‑functional lab that acts as the on‑ramp for silicon validation, software, hardware test, and reliability teams to access new systems in development. Partnering with electrical engineering teams and other subject‑matter experts, you will triage, debug, perform failure analysis, and manage the hardware deployed in these labs. You will be a crucial technical resource, leveraging your expertise in server platforms and electrical engineering to tackle complex problems. Join us and be a part of our dynamic team!

Description

You will support early product development life‑cycle by setting up data center hardware, running tests on pre‑production hardware and document results. Build, maintain, and debug both custom and OEM hardware to support multiple programs. Deploy proof of concept hardware, software setup, and/or piloting of new hardware for use at scale in the data center. This includes testing under various environmental conditions for power and temperature. You will collaborate cross functionally with multiple teams, including hardware development, validation, data center, logistics, software development, etc.

Responsibilities

• Handle data center escalations end-to-end—analyze, reproduce, and root‑cause complex issues across design, prototyping, validation, and production (e.g., SoC, firmware, or interconnect issues manifesting as misconfiguration, performance degradation, or connectivity failures).
• Pilot proof‑of‑concept hardware and software, and prepare new platforms for at‑scale deployment in the data center.
• Build scripts and tools to provision hardware, analyze large data sets and logs, and run benchmarking frameworks.
• Support early product development by setting up custom and OEM data center hardware, running functional checks, documenting results, creating triage runbooks, and enabling critical lab deployments across multiple programs.
• Ensure downstream teams successfully adopt and integrate new hardware platforms.
• Support physical and remote lab activities to enable new programs and cross‑functional teams.
• Create reports, dashboards and presentations for high priority escalations. Includes presenting status, debug/failure analysis efforts, findings, and other information to leadership teams.

Minimum Qualifications

• BS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• 4–8 years in systems engineering, hardware integration, or manufacturing engineering in a server or HPC environment.
• Hands‑on experience with SoC troubleshooting, board‑level debug, failure analysis and diagnostics, including low‑ and high‑speed system interconnects, memory subsystem, power management, and distribution.
• Experience working in lab environments at scale.
• Strong server architecture expertise, including component firmware upgrade processes.
• Hardware, firmware and OS‑level debugging experience using SEL, kernel logs, system logs, and debug commands.
• Working knowledge of provisioning and boot processes (UEFI, DHCP, DNS, PXE/Netboot).
• Proficient in Python and Bash (or equivalent), with experience automating infrastructure provisioning, configuration management, and validation workflows (e.g., with Ansible).

Preferred Qualifications

• MS degree with 3–5 years of relevant experience.
• NPI experience with data center server hardware, custom ASICs/SoCs, or high‑density server environments.
• Experience troubleshooting elusive issues that present as software problems but originate in server hardware or firmware, including debugging interactions between high‑speed buses, firmware, and OS behavior.

At Apple, base pay is one part of our total compensation package and is determined within a range. This provides the opportunity to progress as you grow and develop within a role. The base pay range for this role is between $150,400 and $277,600, and your base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location.

Apple employees also have the opportunity to become an Apple shareholder through participation in Apple’s discretionary employee stock programs. Apple employees are eligible for discretionary restricted stock unit awards, and can purchase Apple stock at a discount if voluntarily participating in Apple’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You’ll also receive benefits including: Comprehensive medical and dental coverage, retirement benefits, a range of discounted products and free services, and for formal education related to advancing your career at Apple, reimbursement for certain educational expenses—including tuition. Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary bonuses or commission payments as well as relocation. Learn more about Apple Benefits

Note: Apple benefit, compensation and employee stock programs are subject to eligibility requirements and other terms of the applicable plan or program.

Apple is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We seek to promote equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant

At Apple, we believe accessibility is a fundamental human right. You’ll find that idea reflected in everything here — in our culture, our benefits and our digital tools. By welcoming as many perspectives as possible, we help you build a career where you feel like you belong.

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Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.