Principal Electrical Engineer

Oracle • Burlington, MA

12d • $114,600 - $234,600 • Onsite

About The Position

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Hardware Engineering develops and supports the physical infrastructure behind Oracle Cloud, including enterprise compute and storage servers and hardware platforms for large-scale cloud, data center, and AI workloads. Oracle is seeking a Principal Electrical Engineer for Server Hardware Validation to work on-site with the OCI Hardware Engineering team in Burlington, Massachusetts. This hands-on technical role focuses on complex hardware validation and sustaining engineering throughout the product lifecycle, from New Product Introduction (NPI) through production.

The engineer will lead validation strategies, component and alternate-source qualification, hardware failure investigation, and root-cause analysis, collaborating across engineering, suppliers, and manufacturing to resolve issues. The role involves close technical work with firmware, software, operating system, diagnostics, and service engineering teams. It also works closely with the Burlington hardware lab and has direct technical impact on the reliability, quality, and manufacturing continuity of Oracle server infrastructure.

The role includes system- and subsystem-level electrical validation; development of test plans, procedures, coverage, and reports; hands-on troubleshooting and laboratory characterization; investigation of signal integrity, power integrity, timing, noise, and interoperability; and validation of high-speed interfaces under varied hardware, firmware, load, and environmental conditions. The engineer reviews schematics, component specifications, PCB layouts, and other engineering documentation, leads corrective actions, supports AVL and end-of-life component activities, and provides technical leadership and mentorship.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field and 7+ years of relevant technical engineering experience, or a master's degree and 5+ years.
• Strong systems-level electrical or hardware engineering background, including validation and troubleshooting of complex computing, server, embedded, or related hardware platforms.
• Proven ability to develop and lead complex hardware validation and qualification efforts.
• Deep hands-on proficiency with high-speed oscilloscopes and laboratory instrumentation, including differential probes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, and related measurement tools.
• Strong knowledge of electrical signal integrity concepts, including timing, jitter, noise, and frequency-domain analysis.
• Demonstrated ability to debug complex board- and subsystem-level hardware issues using schematics, electrical measurements, test data, and systematic root-cause analysis.
• Strong analytical, diagnostic, and problem-solving skills, including investigating ambiguous failures spanning multiple hardware and system domains.
• Ability to collaborate across hardware, firmware, software, operating system, diagnostics, field service, manufacturing, supplier, and other engineering teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including clearly documenting and communicating complex technical findings.
• Technical leadership and mentoring skills, including guiding engineers through complex validation, debug, and root-cause investigations.

Nice To Haves

• Background in the design, validation, or sustaining of enterprise servers, data center infrastructure, or other large-scale computing platforms.
• Knowledge of Intel, AMD, or other processor-based system architectures.
• High-speed interface validation, electrical compliance testing, and knowledge of PCI Express, DDR5, Ethernet, SPI, I2C, and I3C standards.
• Strong understanding of power integrity, power delivery, PMICs, signal integrity, and server electrical subsystems.
• Expertise in component and alternate-source qualification, AVL management, and end-of-life component mitigation.
• NPI and production hardware lifecycle knowledge, including qualification and sustaining activities after product launch.
• Proven success investigating customer, field, factory, or production hardware failures and driving RCCA and corrective actions through validation and closure.
• Proficiency with Linux and Windows environments and Python or similar programming languages for validation automation, data analysis, or test workflows.
• Familiarity with schematic capture, board-level electrical design, FPGA-based hardware, PCB layout, and design-review processes.

Responsibilities

• Lead system- and subsystem-level electrical validation for server hardware across NPI and sustaining engineering activities.
• Contribute to formal design reviews and provide validation-driven feedback to improve product quality, reliability, and manufacturability.
• Develop validation strategies, test plans, test coverage, procedures, and technical reports for PCBA and subsystem-level server assemblies.
• Perform hands-on hardware validation, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis for complex board-, subsystem-, server-, factory-, and field-level failures.
• Collaborate with firmware, software, operating system, diagnostics, field service, manufacturing, and engineering teams to isolate issues and determine root cause.
• Drive corrective actions from investigation through implementation and validation.
• Lead qualification of alternate-source components and support Approved Vendor List (AVL) and end-of-life component activities to maintain manufacturing continuity.
• Analyze hardware changes and determine validation coverage based on interactions across electrical subsystems, interfaces, firmware, software, and system configurations.
• Use laboratory instrumentation to characterize and troubleshoot electrical behavior.
• Investigate signal integrity, power integrity, timing, noise, interoperability, and other electrical issues affecting system performance and reliability.
• Validate high-speed interfaces and electrical subsystems across varying hardware, firmware, load, and environmental conditions.
• Partner with electrical design, CAD, suppliers, manufacturing, and other engineering teams on validation, qualification, and complex technical issues.
• Review schematics, component specifications, PCB layouts, and other engineering documentation for validation, qualification, and root-cause investigations.
• Document specifications, validation plans, test results, technical findings, constraints, corrective actions, and engineering decisions.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineers working through challenging validation and debug problems.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance, including expert medical opinion.
• Short-term and long-term disability.
• Life insurance and AD&D.
• Supplemental life insurance for employees and their spouses or children.
• Health care and dependent care Flexible Spending Accounts.
• Pre-tax commuter and parking benefits.
• 401(k) Savings and Investment Plan with company match.
• Flexible Vacation for eligible salaried employees or accrued vacation for other eligible employees.
• 11 paid holidays.
• 72 hours of paid sick leave upon hire, refreshed annually, with unused hours carrying over up to a 112-hour cap.
• Paid parental leave.
• Adoption assistance.
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
• Financial planning and group legal benefits.
• Voluntary auto, homeowner, and pet insurance.
• Potential eligibility for bonus, equity, and compensation deferral.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior