Senior Principal Test Engineer

Role Overview

Astera Labs is seeking a Senior Principal Test Engineer to serve as a technical authority for test engineering across complex mixed-signal silicon and high-speed connectivity products. You will define Test strategies for SCM High Volume Manufacturing and Validation Boards shipped to customer development and own execution from early product engagement through high-volume manufacturing.

This role is central to delivering reliable, scalable connectivity for rack-scale AI infrastructure. You will influence product quality, coverage, yield, test cost, and time to market while partnering with design, DFT, product engineering, operations, and manufacturing teams in a fast-moving, hyper-growth environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Test Strategy and Product Ownership
  • Define and own comprehensive test strategies, specifications, and plans from product definition through high-volume production.
  • Establish coverage, quality, yield, test-time, and cost objectives, and drive measurable improvements across the product lifecycle.
  • Partner with design and product engineering teams to identify testability requirements and make effective design-for-test tradeoffs.
  • Architect tester solutions and guide development of Tester HW design to meet specific and roadmap of products
  • Validate Tester Designs and characterize before implementing into Mass Production.
  • Apply understanding of physical-layer behavior to investigate failures, interpret lab and production data, and resolve complex performance issues.
  • Lead root-cause analysis and yield improvement using protocol analyzers, oscilloscopes, manufacturing data, and structured failure analysis.
• Technical Leadership and Cross-Functional Execution
  • Serve as a senior technical advisor across test, DFT, design, operations, quality, and external manufacturing organizations.
  • Establish best-known methods, scalable test processes, and automation practices that improve engineering effectiveness and manufacturing readiness.
  • Mentor engineers, influence technical decisions, and communicate risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations to cross-functional stakeholders.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 12–20 years of experience in Test engineering or Product Engineering from development through high-volume manufacturing.
• Strong experience developing custom test solutions for high-speed, mixed-signal products for high volume manufacturing.
• Working knowledge of high-speed protocols and physical-layer behavior, including PCIe, Ethernet, DDR, NVMe, or USB.
• Experience with Test SW development, production debug, and test-time optimization.
• Proven experience developing and designing custom Test Hardware for PCBA High volume manufacturing.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience with Electrical HW board design on complex Test HW implementation.
• Strong knowledge of DFT techniques such as SCAN, MBIST, SerDes, and functional test, along with control interfaces such as I2C, I3C, SPI, MDIO, and JTAG.
• Proficiency in C/C++ or Python for ATE programming, data processing, and test automation; familiarity with databases and yield analytics.
• Demonstrated ability to provide technical leadership, mentor engineers, influence cross-functional decisions, and deliver results in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Proficient in Mandarin Chinese.

The base salary range is $205,000 USD - $260,000 USD. Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions.