Principal Product Application Engineer, Astera Labs

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field
• 8+ years of experience in product applications, field applications, or systems engineering roles supporting complex semiconductor products
• Strong firmware development and debugging skills, including proficiency in embedded C and Python
• Experience with high-speed interfaces such as PCIe Gen5/6/7 or Ethernet
• Demonstrated ability to triage and resolve multi-layer issues spanning silicon, firmware, and system environments
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with a track record of producing clear technical documentation

Desirable

• As a Principal Product Applications Engineer at Astera Labs, you will be at the forefront of enabling the world's leading cloud service providers and server/network OEMs to successfully deploy connectivity solutions
• This high-impact role sits at the intersection of cutting-edge silicon, firmware, and customer success—where you'll tackle complex technical challenges that push the boundaries of AI infrastructure connectivity
• You will serve as a trusted technical advisor to strategic customers, guiding them through design-in, bring-up, and optimization of Astera Labs products
• With a strong firmware orientation, you'll dive deep into embedded systems, debug intricate firmware-hardware interactions, and drive issues to resolution across the full stack
• Your insights from the field will directly influence product roadmaps and engineering priorities, making you a critical bridge between customers and our R&D teams
• This is an opportunity to work on industry-defining connectivity products that power next-generation data centers and AI platforms—all within a fast-paced, hypergrowth environment where your contributions have immediate and visible impact
• Customer Technical Engagement
• Provide expert technical guidance to tier-1 customers throughout the design-in lifecycle, from early evaluation through production deployment
• Build trusted relationships with customer engineering teams, serving as the go-to resource for product integration
• Deliver technical presentations, training sessions, and design reviews to accelerate customer success
• Firmware Debug & Issue Resolution
• Investigate and reproduce customer-reported issues involving firmware, silicon, hardware design, and system-level interactions
• Drive root cause analysis and coordinate cross-functional teams to deliver timely resolutions
• Develop firmware-based tools, scripts, and utilities to streamline debug and validation workflows
• Technical Collateral & Knowledge Sharing
• Create high-quality application notes, integration guides, and technical documentation for internal and external audiences
• Provide actionable feedback to product, firmware, and silicon teams to continuously improve products and customer experience
• Contribute to the development of reference designs and best practices for product deployment
• Lab Validation & Bring-Up
• Execute hands-on silicon and system bring-up activities, including firmware validation and performance characterization
• Utilize lab equipment such as protocol analyzers, high-speed oscilloscopes, and traffic generators to diagnose complex issues
• Support interoperability testing across diverse customer platforms and configurations