Application Engineer - HW Quality

Description: Application Engineer - HW Quality
Location: Santa Clara, CA
Work Mode: Onsite
Employment Type: 3-month contract with potential for full-time conversion

THE ROLE
The ideal candidate is a hands-on hardware engineer with strong debugging skills, a disciplined approach to root-cause analysis, and experience with high-speed systems in Linux-based environments. You are detail-oriented, collaborative, and comfortable driving complex issues through resolution. You communicate clearly and effectively across engineering, operations, and manufacturing teams, and can drive cross-functional agendas with confidence. You actively seek out AI-powered tools and approaches to work more efficiently and expect them to be part of your everyday workflow.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
• Manage and track failure cases and RMA workflows in Salesforce; develop and maintain automation to streamline validation and reporting; support Salesforce UAT activities as required
• Lead failure analysis of returned Client DPU and AI NIC hardware; perform structured RCA and author FA and 8D reports with actionable corrective actions
• Develop and maintain diagnostic scripts, test procedures, RMA validation workflows, and custom debug tooling using Python, Bash, or equivalent
• Identify recurring failure trends through data analysis and partner with Hardware, Design, and Manufacturing teams to drive systemic corrective actions
• Support hardware debug in Linux-based environments, including mechanical assembly and cable routing review as part of failure investigations
• Manage and track failure cases and RMA workflows in Salesforce; develop and maintain Salesforce-based automation to streamline validation workflows and reporting

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
• Strong bias toward leveraging AI tools to accelerate debugging, automate repetitive workflows, and improve overall engineering efficiency
• 5+ years of experience in hardware engineering, failure analysis, or related roles
• Strong knowledge of DPUs, AI NICs, PCIe, and high-speed networking
• Experience with Linux-based diagnostics
• Proficiency in Python, Bash, or other scripting languages
• Experience developing custom debug and validation tools
• Strong attention to detail and problem-solving skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to drive cross-functional collaboration and align stakeholders across Hardware, Design, Manufacturing, and Operations teams

PREFERERRED QUALIFICATIONS
• Experience with Salesforce for case management or workflow tracking
• Background in manufacturing quality, reliability engineering, or RMA processes

ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS
• Bachelor's in Computer Engineering, or a related field preferred