Senior Principal Software/Firmware Engineer - Optical PHY

Marvell is seeking a Senior Principal Software/Firmware Engineer - Optical PHY to join onsite in Santa Clara, CA. This senior role offers a competitive USD 177,820 - 266,400 per year salary range and a benefits package designed to support work-life balance, professional growth, and long-term impact. The position requires a postgraduate degree in EECS or a related technical field and 10+ years of embedded design experience in wired or optical communications. The role sits at the crossroads of architectural innovation and practical delivery, emphasizing prototyping and a clear hand-off to implementation teams.

Benefits

• employee stock purchase plan with a 2-year look back
• family support programs to help balance work and home life
• robust mental health resources to prioritize emotional well-being
• recognition and service awards to celebrate contributions and milestones

Your team, your impact

As a market leader in Connectivity Semiconductor products (PHYs), Marvell’s devices are widely deployed in major cloud data centers and AI clusters. You will join the Optics & Connectivity Product Architecture team, which develops architectural solutions to strategic technical challenges and addresses critical customer requirements both directly and indirectly.

Responsibilities

• Act as the bridge between architectural innovations and practical implementations
• Periodically embed with diverse product design teams to turn architectural specifications into concrete features
• Provide field-driven insights to keep innovation grounded in real-world constraints
• Develop highly functional software prototypes from high-level architectural specifications
• Integrate your design into existing product codebases without disrupting ongoing operations
• Deliver documentation and enable knowledge transfer to hand off further development and maintenance to the implementation team

Requirements

• Postgraduate degree in EECS or related technical field
• 10+ years of experience in embedded design within the wired or optical communications industry
• Insight into Protocol, Software, Hardware, and human interactions
• Technical leadership experience in Optical PHY products with exposure to Customer Support
• Strong firmware engineering background with working knowledge of digital design, or vice versa
• Robust communication skills in listening and teaching

Interview integrity

To maintain fair and authentic hiring practices, candidates must not use AI tools during interviews. Tools such as transcription apps, real-time answer generators, or automated note-taking bots may not be used to record, assist with, or enhance responses. Interviews assess your individual experience, thought process, and communication in real time. Use of AI tools without prior instruction from the interviewer may result in disqualification from the hiring process.