Principal Engineer - Validation (Systems) (SoC)

Location: Canada - Burnaby. The role includes laboratory work on-site and remotely, with 0%–25% travel.

Annual base salary: $86,000–$186,000, plus restricted stock units, quarterly bonuses, health benefits, retirement savings plans, and an employee stock purchase program.

Company

hirify.global develops semiconductor products including storage controllers, NVMe SSD controllers, PCIe switches, and SAS expanders for cloud storage and enterprise data centers.

What you will do

• Integrate prototype SoC hardware and firmware into complete system solutions using emulation platforms, validation boards, FPGAs, and software.
• Design, execute, and document block-, subsystem-, and system-level tests against specifications, performance targets, and industry standards.
• Build and maintain validation infrastructure, including boards, embedded software, device drivers, firmware, scripts, and automated test suites.
• Perform silicon bring-up, complex laboratory investigations, and cross-layer debugging across hardware, firmware, schematics, PCBs, and FPGA environments.
• Identify, report, isolate, and resolve issues with cross-functional engineering teams.
• Lead technical activities, mentor junior engineers, train the validation team, and present technical information to internal and external audiences.

Requirements

• 10 years of relevant pre-silicon and/or post-silicon validation experience.
• Strong programming and scripting skills in C, C++, and Python or Tcl.
• Hands-on experience with oscilloscopes, protocol analyzers, logic analyzers, and other high-speed test equipment.
• Strong SoC system-level debugging skills across firmware, hardware, schematics, PCB, and FPGA environments.
• Knowledge of data communications theory and high-speed signal fundamentals.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or Computer Science.

Nice to have

• SoC performance validation, prototype board bring-up, schematic reading, and PCIe compliance testing.
• High-speed SERDES, signal integrity, PCB layout, or high-speed digital design experience.
• Knowledge of PCIe, DDR4/5, SAS, SATA, I2C, SPI, FPGA tools, VHDL/Verilog, ThreadX, or other RTOS platforms.
• MIPS-based firmware development, Linux or Windows driver development, and product security experience.
• Familiarity with AI tools and workflow integration.

Culture & Benefits

• Employee development programs, including leadership training and growth opportunities.
• Health benefits begin on the first day.
• Retirement savings plans and an employee stock purchase program with a six-month look-back feature.
• Compensation includes base pay, restricted stock units, and quarterly bonus payments.