Senior SSD Application Engineer

Grammar LLC•Milpitas, CA

21h•$150,000 - $200,000

About The Position

The Senior SSD Application Engineer will develop front-end firmware features, modify existing firmware for SSD product requirements following PCIe and NVMe protocols, and debug host interface related problems. This role involves root cause analysis, collaborating with hardware designers, and working directly with customers to manage SSD debug and qualification requirements. The engineer will drive technical design-in and win, resolve adoption barriers, and interface with customers and internal partners to resolve product issues and influence future product definitions. Additionally, the role involves evangelizing the technical benefits of SMI Enterprise controllers, creating preference for SMI products, enabling customer adoption, and supporting ecosystem development. The engineer will advocate for customer technical needs, drive internal teams to meet customer expectations, and participate in customer meetings as a technical advisor, consultant, analyst, and program manager. The AE will build strong relationships with customers and partners in the data center/enterprise segments to achieve business objectives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related fields.
At least 3 years work experience in software/firmware applications engineering.
Experience in SSD controller/firmware architecture.
Experience with PCIe and NVMe protocols in firmware development and debugging, including but not limited to host reset, power management, namespace, MSI-X, SMBus, ARP, NVMe commands etc.
Experience in analyzing PCIe protocol traces to identify the root cause for front end issues.
Experience in the storage industry in SSD, HDD, storage systems, or a related technology.
Strong experience in C/C++ programming and data structure.
Hands on experience with JTAG/ICE debuggers.
Experience with version control software like Git.
Competent to work independently as well as in a small team collaboration environment.
Must be willing to learn fast and execute as a team player.
Good oral, written and presentation skills for communication and documentation.
Ability to work independently with a minimum of day-to-day supervision.

Nice To Haves

The ability to operate logic analyzer, oscilloscope and bus protocol analyzer is valuable.
Experience with hardware peripherals, features, and development environments is also valuable.
Compute and/or Storage System hardware and/or software using both Windows and Linux based operating systems in the data center/enterprise.
HDD/SSD systems/protocols and/or SAS/SATA/PCIe (NVMe).
Familiarity with Datacenter architecture and interfaces, PCIe Switches, RAID controllers, HBAs, Expanders, and JBODs/JBOFs.
Knowledge of SSD hardware and firmware architecture.
Microsoft and Linux datacenter OS debug experience.
Fluent in reading and writing Mandarin preferred.

Responsibilities

Develop front-end firmware features necessary to meet the product specification and customer requirements.
Develop and modify existing firmware for SSD product requirements following PCIe and NVMe protocols.
Debug host interface related problems encountered during internal or customer firmware testing.
Perform root cause analysis and make appropriate changes to correct the problem.
Work directly with hardware designers to efficiently resolve customer issues.
Work with customers to manage SSD debug and qualification requirements in collaboration with SMI Engineering Teams, driving technical design-in/-win, and debug hardware, firmware, and other platform-related barriers to adoption.
Interface with customers and internal platform partners to resolve product issues and leverage those learning to shape future product (controller / Firmware) definition.
Evangelize technical benefits of SMI Enterprise controllers and various business models at the platform level; create preference for SMI products within the platform; enable customer and end-user adoption of solutions; and support ecosystem and tools enabling to drive controller solution adoption.
Advocate technical customer needs to internal stakeholders.
Drive internal teams to deliver to customer expectations.
Participate in customers meetings and presentations, acting as technical adviser, consultant, analyst, and program manager for customer technical interactions in collaboration with SMI PM teams.
Work closely with customers and partners to establish strong relationships that deliver results and team business objectives in the data center / enterprise segments.