Principal Product Development Engineer

What You’ll Do:

Serve as the senior individual‑contributor technical authority who researches, architects, and delivers innovative broadband device solutions—from concept through launch—spanning fiber and fixed‑wireless CPE, software platforms/firmware, and associated applications/services. Translate strategic business outcomes into market‑competitive, scalable products and accelerate AT&T’s converged device vision across consumer and enterprise markets.

• Own the integrated technical program plan for broadband device delivery (charter, scope, roadmap, milestones, and critical path) spanning research, hardware design, system architecture, platform/software, validation, security, compliance, manufacturing, and channel readiness.
• Orchestrate all impacted work streams with clear RACI and dependency mapping; run daily/weekly operating cadences (standups, triage, design/architecture reviews) and drive decision logs across Product, Engineering, Ops, Finance, Care, and Compliance.
• Establish and govern stage gates (AR, EV, DVT, PVT, Field Trial Entry/Exit, LRG) with measurable entry/exit criteria; maintain traceability from PRD/SRD to acceptance.
• Lead vendor/partner program execution (silicon, ODM/OEM, software/platform): define SOWs, SLAs, and deliverables; manage NRE, schedules, change control, and cross‑vendor integration plans.
• Manage engineering execution at scale—backlog, release trains, CI/CD build integration, defect burn‑down, and risk/issue RAID logs—ensuring delivery to scope, quality, and schedule.
• Set quality and validation strategy (RF/Wi‑Fi, performance, stability, security, regulatory) with target KPIs and test coverage; ensure gate readiness and factory/acceptance preparedness.
• Instrument program and product health via dashboards (throughput, latency, stability, FOTA success, security findings, schedule/budget variance, vendor SLA adherence) and provide executive‑ready updates and mitigations.
• Drive proactive risk management and incident response—root cause (5 Whys/FMEA), corrective/preventive actions, and lessons‑learned—to protect launch timelines and customer experience.
• Plan and steward budgets/resources (BOM/cost targets, capex/opex, staffing plans) and negotiate trade‑offs to achieve performance, cost, and time‑to‑market objectives.
• Lead launch and post‑launch lifecycle: field trial design and gating, launch readiness (runbooks, monitoring), and early‑life support with telemetry‑driven improvements and patch cadence management.

• Broadband device architecture (SoC, RF/antenna, thermal, secure boot, key management).
• Access & connectivity:
  Wi‑Fi 6/6E/7, 3
  
  GPP for FWA, GPON/XGS‑PON interfacing, QoS/traffic mgmt.
• Embedded software:
  Linux/prpl
  
  OS, BSP, drivers, USP/TR‑069, telemetry, OTA/FOTA, security hardening.
• Cloud/Services: device‑to‑cloud APIs, fleet mgmt, analytics/observability, app/service delivery.
• Smart‑home ecosystems:
  Matter/Thread/Zigbee/Z‑Wave; converged wireless‑broadband experiences.
• Bachelor’s degree BS/BA (or equivalent).
• 7+ years in broadband or wireless CPE product development with end‑to‑end ownership and at least 2–3 shipped programs at scale.
• Depth in Wi‑Fi, 3
  
  GPP/FWA, fiber‑adjacent architectures; embedded Linux/prpl
  
  OS; security; telemetry; FOTA.
• Proven influence in matrixed environments; vendor leadership; KPI‑driven decision making.

• MS (EE/CS/Telecom) or MBA with strong technical foundation.
• Silicon bring‑up, ODM design transfer, factory test, and carrier acceptance experience.
• Familiarity with prpl, TR‑369/USP, device analytics; smart‑home/converged integrations.

Our Principal Product Development Engineer earns between $158,200–$237,400 USD annually. Individual starting salary within this range may depend on geography, experience, expertise, and education/training.

Benefits and perks include:

• Medical/Dental/Vision coverage
• 401(k) plan
• Tuition reimbursement program
• Paid Time Off and Holidays (at least 23 days of vacation each year and 9 company‑designated holidays)
• Paid Parental Leave
• Paid Caregiver Leave
• Additional sick leave beyond what state and local law…