Hardware Principal Engineer

Hardware Principal Engineer

Help build Dell's ruggedized servers, purpose-engineered to run reliably in the extreme conditions of telecom and far-edge environments. As a Hardware Principal Systems Engineer, you'll get early hands-on access to next-generation hardware, lead the configuration, integration, and system-level validation that readies these platforms for telco deployment, and represent the voice of the customer in global new product development. You'll diagnose complex issues across hardware, firmware, BIOS, management controllers, and OS layers while partnering with product, marketing, and account teams worldwide, delivering visible impact and deep technical growth.

Join us to do the best work of your career and make a profound social impact as a Hardware Principal Engineer on our Systems Development Engineering team in  Hopkinton, Massachusetts.

Essential Requirements

• 8+ years of related experience in a professional role with a Bachelor's degree; or 6+ years with a Master's degree; or 3+ years with a PhD; or equivalent experience.

• Hands-on experience validating server hardware, including firmware/BIOS/BMC bring-up, OS deployment, and multi-layer system diagnostics, is strongly preferred.

• Computer architecture (e.g. x86, ARM), Electrical engineering & hardware development (motherboard, PCIe, DDR, etc.), Hardware & firmware diagnostics & troubleshooting, Server hardware configuration (rack servers, blade servers, etc.)

• Developing and executing test strategies, System-level validation & test (hardware, firmware, BIOS, OS), 

• Environmental, thermal, and EMC/regulatory validation (e.g. NEBS, ETSI, MIL-STD)

Desirable Requirements 

• Exposure to ruggedized, telecom, or edge platforms and familiarity with NEBS, ETSI, or MIL-STD environmental/EMC requirements

• Operating systems (OS) installation, configuration, and troubleshooting (Windows, Linux, etc.)                                                                                                               

Compensation

Dell is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The base salary range for this position is $ 161,500 – 209,000 USD.

Benefits and Perks of working at Dell Technologies

Your life. Your health. Supported by your benefits. You can explore the overall benefits experience that awaits you as a Dell Technologies team member — right now at MyWellatDell.com

You will: 

• Configure, build, and test new ruggedized server configurations in a hands-on lab to meet emerging telecom and far-edge customer requirements.

• Develop and execute system-level test and validation plans for new server products.

• Deploy and validate firmware, BIOS, BMC, and OS stacks across new hardware configurations.

• Translate ambiguous customer issues into actionable validation plans; execute them, diagnose root causes, and deliver clear solution recommendations.

• Represent the voice of the telco and service-provider customer in technical requirements discussions with global engineering teams.

• Engage across product management, technical marketing, and account teams to surface, confirm, and resolve customer deployment challenges.

• Balance and prioritize concurrent validation workloads across multiple stakeholders and competing program deadlines.

Knowledge Application

• Applies deep, wide-ranging systems-level expertise across hardware, firmware, BIOS, management controllers, and OS to resolve complex integration and validation challenges.

• Understands how design choices interact with real-world edge conditions: thermal, power, shock, vibration, and space constraints, and applies that insight to diagnose multi-layer problems.

• Directs the application of established engineering principles and guides the development of new validation methodologies for ruggedized platforms.

Problem Solving

• Independently converts high-level direction or ambiguous customer issues into structured plans with clear actions, milestones, and success criteria.

• Performs root cause analysis on complex systems where failures may originate in any layer, hardware, firmware, BIOS, BMC, or OS, and in the interaction between them and the deployment environment.

• Exercises strong judgment in selecting methods, adapting techniques, and defining evaluation criteria to reach well-supported, defensible conclusions.

Collaboration & Interaction

• Partners hands-on with peers and remotely with engineering teams across distributed global sites to achieve shared outcomes.

• Engages cross-functional teams: product management, technical marketing, and account teams, to advance solutions to customer deployment problems.

• Carries the voice of the telco/edge customer into global product and engineering decisions, ensuring real deployment conditions shape product design.

• Conveys technical findings, trade-offs, and recommendations clearly to both engineering and non-engineering audiences.