Principal Engineer

Position

Microchip Technology Inc. is seeking a Principle Engineer – Applications to join our rapidly expanding Data Center Solutions (DCS) organization in Burnaby, Canada.

As part of the Applications Engineering team, you’ll collaborate closely with product development, validation, marketing, and sales to ensure customers successfully design, deploy, and scale their platforms. You’ll work directly with engineering teams at leading hyperscale AI and global OEMs, supporting design wins, platform bring‑up, and production ramp. This role offers hands‑on engagement with cutting‑edge data‑center, AI/ML, and storage technologies in a fast‑moving environment.

• Lead customer platform enablement for Microchip Switchtec® PCIe® switch products, driving robust, system‑level solutions for next‑generation data‑center and AI platforms.
• Partner with hyperscale AI and global storage customers to define technical requirements, manage deliverables, and support platforms from early board bring‑up through production release.
• Provide advanced technical support by driving platform‑level debug, resolving complex system issues, and developing high‑quality collateral such as hardware guides, reference designs, firmware updates, and software tools.
• Deliver technical training and presentations to internal field teams and customer engineering groups; mentor junior engineers and support their technical development.
• Work independently and cross‑functionally to solve challenging engineering problems across hardware, firmware, and system integration.
• Lead technical discussions and customer engagements to optimize system design, performance, and reliability.
• Ensure seamless product integration and lifecycle management through close collaboration with customers, product teams, and internal stakeholders.
• Continuously expand expertise in next‑generation PCIe, CXL, and storage architectures, as well as Switchtec product capabilities.
• Collaborate with hardware, software, QA, and product management teams to define requirements and deliverables for new and existing products.
• Troubleshoot and resolve firmware and system‑level issues using advanced tools, methodologies, and data‑center‑class debug workflows.
• Travel to customer sites as needed to debug systems, support deployments, and ensure successful integration of PCIe switch products.

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or Computer Engineering, with 8+ years of relevant industry experience.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with cross‑functional, geographically distributed teams to drive engineering excellence and successful project outcomes.
• Working knowledge of PCI Express (PCIe).
• Strong software and firmware development skills, with deep experience debugging multi‑threaded architectures.
• Proficiency in C and C++ programming; experience developing test scripts in Perl, Bash, or Python.
• Prior experience with UNIX and Windows (Wintel) driver development, as well as firmware development on lightweight embedded operating systems such as ThreadX, VxWorks, eCos, or similar RTOS platforms.
• Customer‑facing engineering experience, including technical support, issue analysis, and root‑cause debugging.
• Hands‑on experience using bench‑top equipment such as protocol analyzers, exercisers, logic analyzers, and other storage‑related test tools.
• Strong understanding of system‑level firmware/hardware interactions, with excellent analytical and problem‑solving capabilities.

• Prior experience in the storage industry, with familiarity collaborating closely with marketing and sales teams.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to effectively engage across cross‑functional engineering and customer teams.
• Hands‑on experience with RISC‑based embedded processors, preferably MIPS.
• Strong debugging capabilities, including experience with kernel‑level debugging tools (e.g., Win Dbg), JTAG, and serial interfaces.
• Comprehensive understanding of computer system design, including server and storage architectures, microprocessors, I/O interfaces, electronics hardware development, and basic programming in Python and
  
  C.
• Proficiency in system and hardware debugging using laboratory tools such as multimeters, oscilloscopes, and Linux‑based diagnostic utilities.

0% - 25%

• Annual base salary range: $86,000 – $186,000 (dependent on location, skills, and experience).
• Competitive base pay, restricted stock units, quarterly bonus payments.
• Health benefits begin day one, retirement savings plans, and an industry‑leading IESPP program with a 6‑month look‑back feature.