Principal Software Engineer - System Lead

Job Description

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) offers the opportunity to help design, build, and operate a suite of massive scale, integrated cloud services. The OCI Hardware Development team is seeking a System Lead focused on early hardware bringup and integration. This is a development engineering role dedicated to facilitating rapid hardware platform readiness within the product development cycle-prior to QA or broad software validation. You will collaborate closely with hardware, firmware, and software engineering teams to identify and resolve issues during prototype development and play a pivotal part in the success of next-generation server platforms powering Oracle Cloud.

Responsibilities

The Opportunity: System Lead (IC4)
As a System Lead, you will lead the integration, configuration, and bringup of complex hardware prototypes in the engineering lab. Your focus will be on early-stage system validation, troubleshooting, and rapid iteration with the engineering teams-not on downstream QA or traditional end-product testing. Your technical expertise and collaborative mindset will help shape the reliability and performance of our foundational server systems, ensuring smooth handoff to QA and downstream product teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead hands-on hardware bringup and integration for server platform prototypes-driving early validation and resolving issues before systems advance to the QA phase.
• Collaborate directly with hardware, firmware, and software engineering partners to analyze, reproduce, and debug complex issues in a fast-paced lab environment.
• Develop, enhance, and utilize test procedures and diagnostic scripts for bringup and early problem detection-not for full QA test coverage.
• Analyze detailed system and component logs; identify root causes of malfunctions; and route issues efficiently to relevant engineering teams for resolution.
• Integrate and configure subsystems and hardware components (NICs, NVMe drives, memory, expansion cards, CPUs, GPUs, etc.) to support diverse validation scenarios.
• Manage and administer lab network infrastructure (switches, VLANs, interconnects) to ensure robust system-to-system connectivity and support for early testing.
• Integrate and evaluate new and evolving software (firmware, drivers, utilities) into test systems as part of early development feedback loops.
• Record configuration details, debug processes, and solutions to enable accelerated knowledge transfer and efficient engineering handoff.
• Communicate status, risk, challenges, and technical findings clearly to broader development teams.

What You'll Bring

Must-Have Skills & Experience

• 7+ years of relevant experience in system bringup, hardware validation, or platform integration within a product development environment.
• Hands-on expertise with BMC and motherboard bringup for server-class CPU or GPU products.
• Deep familiarity with the integration of system components (PCIe, NVMe, memory, network cards) and configuration for system-level troubleshooting.
• Proficiency in initiating system-level tests, analyzing logs, and triaging hardware and software issues.
• Practical knowledge of network switch setup and administration in a lab setting.
• Experience with integrating software builds/packages from multiple sources into hardware prototypes for development validation.
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills; comfortable with fast iterative engineering cycles and ambiguity in early development phases.

Preferred Skills

• Scripting (Bash, Python) or automation experience for lab administration and rapid test development.
• Familiarity with hardware management protocols (IPMI, Redfish, OpenBMC).
• Prior experience as a development engineer or system integrator; not as a QA/test engineer.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills for multi-disciplinary, distributed engineering teams.

Education
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent relevant work experience.

Qualifications

Disclaimer:

Certain US customer or client-facing roles may be required to comply with applicable requirements, such as immunization and occupational health mandates.

Range and benefit information provided in this posting are specific to the stated locations only

US: Hiring Range in USD from: $96,800 to $223,400 per annum. May be eligible for bonus and equity.

Oracle maintains broad salary ranges for its roles in order to account for variations in knowledge, skills, experience, market conditions and locations, as well as reflect Oracle's differing products, industries and lines of business.
Candidates are typically placed into the range based on the preceding factors as well as internal peer equity.

Oracle US offers a comprehensive benefits package which includes the following:
1. Medical, dental, and vision insurance, including expert medical opinion
2. Short term disability and long term disability
3. Life insurance and AD&D
4. Supplemental life insurance (Employee/Spouse/Child)
5. Health care and dependent care Flexible Spending Accounts
6. Pre-tax commuter and parking benefits
7. 401(k) Savings and Investment Plan with company match
8. Paid time off: Flexible Vacation is provided to all eligible employees assigned to a salaried (non-overtime eligible) position. Accrued Vacation is provided to all other employees eligible for vacation benefits. For employees working at least 35 hours per week, the vacation accrual rate is 13 days annually for the first three years of employment and 18 days annually for subsequent years of employment. Vacation accrual is prorated for employees working between 20 and 34 hours per week. Employees working fewer than 20 hours per week are not eligible for vacation.
9. 11 paid holidays
10. Paid sick leave: 72 hours of paid sick leave upon date of hire. Refreshes each calendar year. Unused balance will carry over each year up to a maximum cap of 112 hours.
11. Paid parental leave
12. Adoption assistance
13. Employee Stock Purchase Plan
14. Financial planning and group legal
15. Voluntary benefits including auto, homeowner and pet insurance

The role will generally accept applications for at least three calendar days from the posting date or as long as the job remains posted.
Career Level - IC4

About Us

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