Principal Engineer - Validation (Systems) (AI/Data Center)

Location: Burnaby, Canada; hands-on lab work is performed on-site, with some complex tests and investigations conducted remotely. Travel: 0–25%.

Annual base salary: $86,000–$186,000, plus restricted stock units and quarterly bonus payments.

Company

hirify.global develops semiconductor products and solutions, 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.
• Develop, execute, and document feature-level tests for SoC hardware blocks, firmware, and system operation against specifications, performance targets, and industry standards.
• Build and maintain validation infrastructure, including boards, embedded software, device drivers, test scripts, and automated test suites.
• Perform silicon bring-up, system integration, lab investigations, and cross-layer debugging across hardware, firmware, schematics, PCBs, and FPGAs.
• Identify and report bugs, collaborate with cross-functional teams on resolution, and present technical information to internal and external audiences.
• Lead technical activities, mentor junior engineers, and help grow and train the validation team.

Requirements

• 10 years of relevant pre-silicon and/or post-silicon silicon or SoC 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.
• System-level debugging experience across firmware, hardware, schematics, PCB, and FPGA environments.
• Strong 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 and tuning, prototype board bring-up, and schematic reading experience.
• PCIe compliance testing, high-speed SERDES testing, pre-silicon emulation, or signal integrity experience.
• Experience with Product Security, AI workflow tools, MIPS-based firmware, Linux or Windows drivers, FPGA tools, VHDL/Verilog, ThreadX, or another RTOS.
• Knowledge of PCIe, DDR4/5, SAS, SATA, I2C, SPI, and protocol trace debugging.

Culture & Benefits

• Values-based environment emphasizing trust, empowerment, respect, diversity, communication, and professional growth.
• Health benefits begin on the first day.
• Retirement savings plans and an employee stock purchase program with a six-month look-back feature.
• Leadership development programs and opportunities to work on cutting-edge data center products.