Principal Hardware Systems Engineer

Role Overview

d-Matrix is looking for a Principal Systems Hardware Engineer to own system architecture end-to-end — from concept through specification, design review, and production deployment. In this role, you'll act as the technical anchor for hardware decisions across interconnect, board, chassis, and rack-scale design, writing the specifications that partners and internal teams build against. You'll work independently against your objectives — setting technical direction without needing explicit guidance — while partnering closely with cross-functional teams and software groups to align hardware decisions with performance and workload needs.

You'll review partner and vendor designs against requirements, surface misalignment and schedule risk early, and drive trade-off analysis across adjacent domains like interconnect, power, thermal, and mechanical. You'll also help establish the spec standards, review practices, and AI-assisted workflows that shape how d-Matrix builds systems at scale.

What You Will Do

• Own system architecture end-to-end — from concept through specification, design review, and production deployment — as the technical lead across teams and partners
• Author system, board, and rack specifications, and review partner designs against them — surfacing misalignment and schedule risk early
• Set direction for interconnect architecture — scale-up and scale-out fabrics, NICs, switches, optics, and topology — partnering with domain specialists to execute
• Set direction for board, chassis, and system architecture — component placement, PCB design, connectors, power, and thermal — at chassis, rack, and data-hall scale, partnering with domain specialists to execute
• Evaluate competing design options through trade-off analysis and "what-if" scenario planning
• Define validation, bring-up, and qualification strategy for new platforms
• Partner with software teams to align hardware decisions with performance and workload needs, and help establish spec standards and review practices for the org

What You Will Bring

• 8+ years of experience in hardware systems architecture, including deep, hands-on expertise in one core domain (interconnect, power, or thermal) for large-scale compute or networking systems
• Experience owning hardware system architecture at scale (machine, rack, row, or cluster) — from specification through bring-up and high-volume production deployment
• Experience reviewing partner designs and holding vendors to specification
• Ability to reason about trade-offs across adjacent domains (interconnect, power, thermal, mechanical)
• Track record of technical leadership — owning directional decisions and driving alignment across teams and partners
• Degree in EE, CE, ME, CS, or equivalent

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in hardware systems architecture for hyperscale, HPC, AI/ML, or high-end networking platforms
• Experience with AI accelerator systems and their scale-up/scale-out fabrics
• Chip-package-system co-design experience
• Expertise in one or more of: high-speed SerDes/PCIe/CXL/optics; BMC/firmware/secure boot; 48V/HVDC power delivery/liquid cooling; fleet-scale RAS; signal and power integrity
• Experience establishing new engineering functions or practices