Principal Software Development Eng. Job Listing at AMD in Santa Clara, CA (Job ID 72644-en-us)

Description

WHAT YOU DO AT AMD CHANGES EVERYTHING 

At AMD, our mission is to build great products that accelerate next-generation computing experiences—from AI and data centers, to PCs, gaming and embedded systems. Grounded in a culture of innovation and collaboration, we believe real progress comes from bold ideas, human ingenuity and a shared passion to create something extraordinary. When you join AMD, you'll discover the real differentiator is our culture. We push the limits of innovation to solve the world's most important challenges—striving for execution excellence, while being direct, humble, collaborative, and inclusive of diverse perspectives. Join us as we shape the future of AI and beyond.  Together, we advance your career.  

THE ROLE: 

AMD is looking for a highly experienced and technically hands-on Principal Software Engineer to lead the development of diagnostic software for next-generation data center products. This role is critical to enabling early hardware validation, ensuring long-term reliability, and accelerating time-to-market for complex platforms.

You will play a central role in board bring-up, high-speed interface validation, and network switch diagnostics, working closely with cross-functional teams to support platform power-on, debug, and production readiness.

THE PERSON: 

The ideal candidate will play a central role in board bring-up, high-speed interface validation, and network switch diagnostics, working closely with cross-functional teams to support platform power-on, debug, and production readiness.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: 

• Lead board bring-up efforts for new data center hardware platforms, enabling early silicon validation, low-level software initialization, and system-level debug.

• Design and implement diagnostic software for subsystems including PCIe (Gen5/Gen6), I2C, SPI, memory interfaces, UART, and SerDes up to 100/200Gbps.

• Validate and debug high-speed interconnects including SerDes, ensuring signal integrity, link stability, and performance metrics meet spec.

• Work on network switch platforms, developing diagnostics for ASICs, ports, and interconnects used in data center networking.

• Create scalable diagnostic frameworks for use in factory, lab, and field environments.

• Drive system-level root cause analysis across hardware, firmware, and OS layers using JTAG, oscilloscopes, protocol analyzers, and other hardware debug tools.

• Collaborate with silicon, board design, firmware, and validation teams to identify and resolve hardware/software integration issues.

• Provide mentorship and technical direction to other engineers, especially around bring-up, system validation, and debug methodologies.

• Own diagnostic software architecture, roadmap, and quality from prototype through product maturity.

Required:

• 10+ years of experience in embedded systems or low-level software development.

• Proven track record in board bring-up of complex hardware systems — from early silicon to production-ready platforms.

• Strong proficiency in C/C++, with significant experience writing low-level diagnostics and system-level code.

• Proficiency with Python for test automation, data processing, and tooling.

• Deep knowledge of hardware protocols and interfaces including PCIe Gen5/Gen6, I2C, SPI, UART, and SerDes (100/200Gbps).

• Hands-on experience with high-speed interface debugging: signal integrity validation, link training, and performance analysis.

• Experience with Linux internals, kernel driver development, and system configuration.

• Comfortable using hardware debug tools: JTAG, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers (e.g., PCIe/SerDes), oscilloscopes, etc.

• Excellent debugging and problem-solving skills across hardware and software domains.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE: 

• Experience working with data center products such as servers, NICs, network switches, accelerators, storage controllers, or infrastructure appliances.
• Knowledge of Go (Golang) is a strong plus.
• Familiarity with high-availability systems, system telemetry, or reliability testing in production environments.
• Exposure to hardware security, firmware validation, or secure boot diagnostics.
• Previous leadership of cross-functional debug or bring-up teams. 

ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS: 

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent 

LOCATION: Santa Clara, California

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Benefits offered are described:  AMD benefits at a glance.

AMD does not accept unsolicited resumes from headhunters, recruitment agencies, or fee-based recruitment services. AMD and its subsidiaries are equal opportunity, inclusive employers and will consider all applicants without regard to age, ancestry, color, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, race, religion, political and/or third-party affiliation, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.   We encourage applications from all qualified candidates and will accommodate applicants' needs under the respective laws throughout all stages of the recruitment and selection process.