Staff Hardware Validation Engineer

1743 - This position is in Austin, Texas.   Position Summary We are seeking an experienced Board-Level Hardware Validation Engineer to define and execute the validation and verification of complex electronic systems throughout the product lifecycle. This role is responsible for defining validation strategies, developing test plans, executing hands-on testing, analyzing failures, and working directly with ODM partners to ensure products meet performance, reliability, quality, and compliance requirements before mass production. The ideal candidate combines strong electrical engineering fundamentals with practical lab expertise and is comfortable personally performing validation activities while coordinating with cross-functional teams and manufacturing partners.   Key Responsibilities Validation Strategy & Planning Define comprehensive board-level and inter-board validation plans based on product requirements, design specifications, and customer use cases. Develop validation methodologies covering functional, electrical, thermal, power, signal integrity, reliability, and stress testing. Establish test coverage, acceptance criteria, qualification requirements, and release gates. Review hardware architecture, schematics, component specifications, and interface topologies to identify validation risks early in the design cycle. Define incremental validation and regression coverage for component substitutions, design changes, and firmware updates. Hands-On Validation Execution Develop, automate, and execute validation tests on prototype and production-intent hardware. Perform board bring-up, functional verification, electrical characterization, and system-level integration testing. Validate communication interfaces, control signals, and timing requirements. Verify power sequencing, reset behavior, leakage current, and recovery across operating states. Execute temperature and voltage corner testing against approved operating limits. Use oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, spectrum analyzers, power analyzers, TDRs, VNAs, environmental chambers, and other laboratory equipment as applicable. Collect and analyze waveforms, measurements, and logs to demonstrate compliance with acceptance criteria. Develop custom test fixtures, scripts, and tools to improve test efficiency, coverage, and repeatability. Firmware Validation & Automation Validate firmware builds on applicable hardware before qualification or release. Verify boot, initialization, interface functionality, power-state transitions, fault recovery, and features affected by each release. Maintain regression coverage for previously resolved hardware and firmware defects. Automate firmware deployment, functional checks, power cycling, measurement collection, and reporting. Develop reusable test suites to accelerate validation following hardware revisions and firmware changes. ODM & Manufacturing Collaboration Work directly with ODM partners to align validation plans, test procedures, and qualification activities. Review ODM validation reports and ensure consistency with internal quality standards. Drive issue resolution across ODM, design engineering, manufacturing, and quality teams. Debug & Root Cause Analysis Investigate hardware failures and validation escapes through systematic root-cause analysis. Review designs and customer use cases to identify potential failure conditions. Develop controlled failure-injection tests to evaluate fault detection, error handling, and recovery. Track validation defects from discovery through corrective action and verified closure. Validate fixes and assesses their impact on related functions. Maintain failure-analysis and troubleshooting documentation, including symptoms, diagnostic steps, root causes, corrective actions, and lessons learned. Incorporate resolved issues into regression testing where practical. Documentation & Reporting Author test plans, validation procedures, test reports, and qualification summaries. Ensure traceability between requirements, test coverage, results, and defects. Maintain accurate records of hardware revisions, firmware versions, test configurations, and supporting evidence. Track validation progress, coverage gaps, risks, defects, corrective actions, and release readiness through dashboards and status reports. Present validation results, recommendations, and readiness assessments to engineering leadership and stakeholders. Required Qualifications Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field. 7+ years (or appropriate level) of board-level hardware validation experience. Strong understanding of digital and mixed-signal electronic systems. Experience validating high-speed interfaces such as PCIe, USB, Ethernet, DDR, MIPI, SPI, I2C, UART, or similar technologies. Hands-on experience with laboratory instrumentation and measurement techniques. Experience working w