System Validation Engineer Intern

Job description

System Validation Intern Location: San Jose, California, United States Employment type: Internship About the role We are looking for a System Validation Intern to help validate hardware, firmware, and applications together as an integrated system. This is a hands-on opportunity to work at the intersection of software and hardware while helping improve validation coverage and accelerate deployment of next-generation data-center connectivity products. You will collaborate with system validation, firmware, hardware, software quality, interoperability, compliance, and Product Applications teams. The right candidate is curious, execution-focused, comfortable troubleshooting from data, and eager to own a scoped validation project with guidance from experienced engineers. What you’ll do Define test specifications and deliver repeatable test workflows for system-level validation. Execute functional, performance, stress, reliability, interoperability, regression, and end-to-end validation scenarios. Automate feature validation and develop scripts or utilities that improve test coverage, repeatability, and reporting. Investigate issues across hardware, firmware, software, and applications by reproducing failures, analyzing logs and telemetry, and documenting clear findings. Generate comprehensive validation reports, record test results, summarize pass/fail trends, and communicate risks, known issues, and recommended next steps. Support lab setup and maintain test environments, devices under test, configurations, firmware versions, and required tools. Track bugs through their lifecycle, including clear reproduction steps, logs, traces, screenshots, retesting, regression testing, and closure verification. Validate system functionality, subsystem integration, performance under load, stability, and recovery behavior. Support interoperability and compliance activities by sharing validation reports, known-issues lists, test results, and follow-up findings. Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams to clarify requirements, investigate complex technical challenges, and improve validation processes. Build dashboards, parse logs, analyze coverage and pass/fail data, and identify opportunities to make validation more efficient. Own a defined internship project with mentor support, provide progress updates, meet milestones, and present the project’s results and recommendations at the end of the internship. What you bring Currently enrolled in a bachelor’s, master’s, or Ph.D. program in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, or a related field. Coursework, research, or project experience in systems, embedded software, digital hardware, computer architecture, networking, test engineering, or hardware/software integration. Programming or scripting experience with Python, C, C++, Bash/Shell, or comparable languages. Familiarity with Linux development environments, Git version control, command-line tools, issue-tracking platforms, data analysis, and technical documentation. Ability to follow structured test procedures, troubleshoot from telemetry or logs, reproduce issues, and communicate findings clearly. Foundational understanding of computer architecture and platform components, including CPUs, GPUs, memory, storage, and PCIe devices. Strong ownership, curiosity, practical judgment, attention to detail, and willingness to collaborate across engineering functions. Ability to ask for help when blocked, follow up, escalate appropriately, and work around obstacles while maintaining quality. Preferred qualifications Experience with system bring-up, hardware or firmware validation, lab testing, test automation, or device-under-test debugging. Familiarity with PCIe, CXL, Ethernet, I2C, I3C, or other industry protocols. Hands-on experience with oscilloscopes, protocol analyzers, traffic generators, power supplies, thermal-forcing systems, or other lab equipment. Familiarity with firmware updates, boot flows, configuration and telemetry utilities, error injection, performance counters, or recovery testing. Experience with interoperability, compliance, stress, reliability, or regression-testing frameworks. Experience building dashboards, parsing logs, analyzing pass/fail trends, or automating validation reporting. Equal opportunity Astera Labs is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We encourage anyone with relevant experience to apply. Internship experience and compensation This is a paid, hourly U.S. internship. The applicable hourly rate is determined as part of the offer process and specified in the offer letter, depending on education level ranges from $35/hour to $55/hour. U.S. interns currently receive a $500-per-week housing/relocation stipend for the duration of the internship. Interns participate in Early Career programming, including technical and professional-development sessions, community events, and an end-of-program project presentation.