Lab Operations Engineer
The Lab Operations Engineer is responsible for supporting hardware development, validation, and lab operations across silicon, systems, networking, and infrastructure programs. This role partners with engineering, lab operations, system integration, and IT teams to deploy, maintain, troubleshoot, and scale development lab environments. The ideal candidate combines hands-on hardware skills with scripting, automation, networking, and datacenter operations experience.
Key Responsibilities
- Instrument prototype servers and development platforms using serial consoles, UART interfaces, and debug ports.
- Install, configure, cable, and validate servers, racks, networking equipment, and lab infrastructure.
- Support hardware bring-up activities, system integration efforts, and validation testing.
- Assist engineering teams in diagnosing platform, firmware, and hardware issues.
- Perform break-fix activities, preventative maintenance, and system sustainment support.
- Develop and maintain automation scripts using Python, Bash, PowerShell, or similar languages.
- Assist with datacenter and laboratory operations, including rack deployment, hardware installation, and cable management.
- Manage lab inventory, consumables, spare components, and test equipment.
- Assist with network deployment, subnet troubleshooting, switch configuration, and connectivity validation.
- Partner with hardware, firmware, silicon, security, validation, and infrastructure engineering teams.
- Maintain compliance with lab safety requirements, ESD controls, and operational procedures.
Required Qualifications
- 5+ years of experience supporting hardware development labs, datacenters, manufacturing labs, or validation environments.
- Experience with server hardware, rack integration, bring-up, deployment, and troubleshooting.
- Experience with serial communications, UARTs, console access, and low-level system debug.
- Experience scripting with Python, Bash, PowerShell, or similar languages.
- Knowledge of networking fundamentals including switching, VLANs, subnets, routing, and connectivity troubleshooting.
- Strong troubleshooting and root-cause analysis skills.
- Ability to work effectively across engineering, operations, and infrastructure teams.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting silicon development or platform validation programs.
- Familiarity with Linux administration and hardware validation environments.
- Experience using oscilloscopes, protocol analyzers, logic analyzers, or other engineering instrumentation.
- Experience supporting large-scale cloud, server, AI, or datacenter hardware platforms.
- Experience with inventory management systems, automation frameworks, or lab operation tooling.