PRINCIPAL R&D/PRODUCT DVL ENGINEER

Role Objective

As Principal R&D Product Development Engineer of the DDN socket team, you will focus on creating relationships with customer innovators and influencers, defining and driving technical activities, coordinating and facilitating technical engineering-related communications for internal/external customers, creating the product standard for a key technology, and contributing to the technical roadmap of the socket products.

Job Requirements

• Concept Development & Design

• Develop innovative design concepts and conduct feasibility studies to assess technical and commercial viability.
• Collaborate with global Product Design Engineering (PDE) teams to accurately convert VOC and PRD into detailed design inputs for precise socket development.
• Create simplified 3D models and perform signal integrity (SI) simulations using advanced tools such as Ansys HFSS to validate electrical signal performance.
• Build and test prototype samples, execute design validation plans, and complete product qualification to finalize specifications.

• Strategic & Leadership Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end product development of high-speed, fine-pitch, large-size sockets—from market definition, concept creation to design, review, and production release.
• Foster strong alignment between business and customer engineering teams to deepen market understanding and drive customer-centric innovation.
• Responsible for mentoring and training engineering teams in advanced mechanical design principles and signal integrity simulation methodologies, including hands-on guidance in using industry-standard tools such as Creo and Ansys HFSS, to ensure design robustness, performance optimization, and alignment with high-speed interconnect requirements.

• Customer & Market Engagement

• Collaborate closely with customers and internal stakeholders (Sales, System Architects, FAEs, and PMs) to capture clear Voice of Customer (VOC) and translate it into conceptual designs and preliminary product specifications.
• Engage in early-stage pathfinding with customers to co-develop cutting-edge interconnect solutions that meet future technological needs.
• Prepare and present engineering evaluations and proposals to customers, aligning solutions with application requirements and performance targets.

• Manufacturing Support & Quality Assurance

• Provide technical support to manufacturing and quality teams to ensure efficient ramp-up, process optimization, and safe product launches.
• Support cross-functional teams—including customers, Sales, PMs, and manufacturing sites—through DFMEA, testing, troubleshooting, and engineering analysis.

What Your Background Should Look Like

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical or Mechatronics Engineering; Master’s degree preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years of work experience in mechanical design for high-speed interconnect products, with high-speed signal integrity knowledge preferred.
• Direct customer design and support experience, including the ability to work with Field Application Engineers to troubleshoot customer problems and improve existing designs.
• Design experience with high-speed servers, switches, and memory is a plus.
• Understanding semiconductor IC packaging and fundamental test/burn-in methodology.
• Expert-level knowledge of interconnect design or experience with high-speed connectors with PCIE Gen 6/7 compliance.
• High level of competency in mechanical design tools such as Creo/SolidWorks.
• Good level of competency in signal integrity analysis tools (Ansys HFSS, Keysight ADS).
• Strong analytical capabilities to interpret simulation and lab data, identify issues, and provide solutions.
• Six Sigma methodologies or other strong data analytics background is a plus.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to work in a global environment, fluent in English (verbal/written), and able to collaborate across geographies.
• Highly motivated, quick learner, and able to work independently.