Principal Product Applications Engineer

Astera Labs•San Jose, CA

11h•$207,000 - $230,000

About The Position

As a Principal Engineer on the Scorpio Product Applications team, you will help customers and internal teams deploy high-performance PCIe fabric solutions for rack-scale AI infrastructure. You will translate complex system requirements into practical architectures, lead platform bring-up, and guide the integration of Scorpio switches across demanding CPU, GPU, NIC, storage, and accelerator designs. This role connects product strategy, firmware, and real-world system behavior. You will work across hardware, firmware, validation, and customer-facing teams to solve interoperability challenges, accelerate adoption, and shape the next generation of PCIe Gen 6/Gen 7 connectivity. Your work will directly influence how AI systems scale using purpose-built fabrics, UALink, and UCIe.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
8–12 years of experience in product applications, systems engineering, firmware, platform validation, or a related semiconductor domain.
Strong understanding of PCIe architecture, including link training, enumeration, configuration space, error handling, performance, and system interoperability.
Experience with firmware development or debug, including the ability to read code, interpret logs, and collaborate effectively with firmware developers.
Hands-on experience with system bring-up, lab debug, protocol analysis, and root-cause investigation across complex hardware and software stacks.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain technical issues to both engineering teams and customers.

Nice To Haves

Experience with PCIe Gen 6 or Gen 7, PCIe fabric switches, retimers, or other high-speed connectivity products.
Familiarity with UALink, UCIe, or emerging scale-up and scale-out interconnect architectures.
Experience developing validation plans, firmware test strategies, lab automation, or customer-facing technical collateral.
Background supporting AI servers, accelerator platforms, hyperscale infrastructure, or high-performance computing systems.
Demonstrated ability to lead ambiguous, cross-functional technical challenges in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.

Responsibilities

Lead technical engagements with customers and ecosystem partners to define Scorpio-based PCIe architectures and deployment requirements.
Develop reference designs, application guidance, technical presentations, and system-level collateral that accelerate customer adoption.
Translate customer use cases into clear product requirements, integration plans, and prioritized technical actions.
Drive system bring-up, debug, and interoperability across PCIe hosts, GPUs, NICs, storage devices, and other high-performance endpoints.
Partner with firmware teams to define, implement, and validate device configuration, boot flows, telemetry, recovery mechanisms, and field-debug capabilities.
Analyze link training, enumeration, performance, error handling, and system stability issues using protocol traces, logs, and lab instrumentation.
Build and maintain firmware, validation, and automation workflows that improve debug efficiency and product readiness.
Partner with architecture, design, firmware, validation, and applications teams to resolve complex issues from prototype through production.
Lead root-cause analysis, communicate risks and recommendations, and drive issues to closure with clear ownership and measurable outcomes.
Influence product enhancements and ecosystem interoperability plans for next-generation AI infrastructure connectivity.