Principal Quality Engineer

Description

The Principal Quality Engineer IC4 is responsible for defining and leading scalable, risk-based quality strategies for complex systems; overseeing test coverage, environments, automation, defect resolution, root cause analysis, quality gates, and release readiness across teams. The role requires strong expertise in GPU related testing, test automation, CI/CD integration, risk assessment, test execution and infrastructure, cross-functional collaboration, problem solving, process improvement, and technical mentorship.

Designs scalable test strategies for complex GPU systems, defining coverage to address integration complexity and technical risks. Oversees test environment setup across teams, adapts validation plans, and enforces quality gates for release readiness. Works with manufacturing facilities to review test procedures and results. Leads root cause analysis for customer issues, manages defect resolution, and drives team-level quality improvements. Maintains and optimizes test infrastructure, advises on build vs. buy decisions, and develops reusable automation solutions integrated into Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines.

Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:

Test Design and Strategy

• Designs scalable strategies for complex systems that align with quality goals of the function and product vision.
• Recommends approaches based on risk to inform architecture and tooling initiatives.
• Defines coverage across systems to account for technical unknowns, scalability, and integration complexity.
• Prioritizes risk-based regression to balance speed, risk, and automation coverage across products or services.

Test Execution

• Oversees team test environment setup and maintenance across multiple teams, ensuring scalability.
• Adapts validation plans for complex systems through risk modeling to address service ownership alignment.
• Creates documentation for failures across components, implementing corrections where needed.
• Prioritizes risk-based regression to balance speed, risk, and automation coverage across products or services.

Defect Tracking and Management

• Takes ownership of reproducing customer issues, performing root cause analysis, and verifying fixes.
• Manages defects across features.
• Leads regular reporting on test progress/defects, ensures root causes are addressed through fixes and engineering accountability.
• Independently conducts post-incident (post-mortem) reviews to identify root causes and recommend preventative actions.
• Independently drafts findings and action plans for leadership review.
• Partners with others on troubleshooting and performing root cause analysis to uncover recurring quality issues and drive improvements.

Collaboration and Communication

• Supports cross-functional quality initiatives by contributing to technical roadmap alignment, surfacing quality risks, and collaborating with partner teams to drive test alignment.
• Works with product management and developers to align on areas for testing.
• Influences the design and prioritizes testing and tooling.
• Maintains and optimizes test infrastructure, driving efficiency and scalability to improve automation and test processes.

Continuous Improvement

• Analyzes and updates processes that improve consistency and reduce friction in engineering workflows within a limited, clearly scoped area.

Automation

• Drives team-level quality improvements by identifying process gaps and contributing to local transformation efforts.
• Develops scalable automation solutions that support test coverage and reuse within a product or team.
• Promotes automation best practices by resolving complex issues and guiding peers on test maintainability.
• Integrates automation into Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines by contributing to workflow enhancements and reliability improvements.

Risk Assessment

• Leads quality risk assessments during product development, ensuring proactive risk mitigation and testing strategies.
• Identifies systematic impacts of test coverage on moderately complex features areas.
• Implements and enforces software quality gates at key development stages by evaluating test coverage, static analysis results, and defect metrics to ensure release readiness.
• Leads the review and refinement of test plans across product areas, identifying high-risk impact areas and working with Scrum teams to prioritize mitigation and validate coverage.

Test Tooling

• Maintains and optimizes test infrastructure to drive improvements.
• Provides input into "build versus buy" decisions to increase efficiency and scalability.

Additional Responsibilities (as needed)

Performance Testing

• Leads testing of complex non-functional requirements across services, focusing on multi-user performance, dynamic scalability, and stress conditions.
• Coordinates with performance and teams to integrate advanced tooling, profiling, and remediation strategies.
• Integrates user experience metrics into performance benchmarks to drive product-level responsiveness standards.

Core Responsibilities

Planning & Execution

• Manages and coordinates moderately complex tasks, monitoring timelines and deliverables to ensure timely completion and adherence to requirements for a moderately-sized project or initiative.
• Efficiently delegates, monitors, and prioritizes work across multiple projects, providing technical oversight and adjusting plans to address shifts in resources or timelines.

Collaboration & Partnership

• Collaborates across the organization to align on expectations and achieve shared objectives.
• Leverages understanding of business leaders, stakeholders, and/or customers to ensure proposed solutions meet their needs.
• Supports inclusivity by actively seeking and listening to diverse perspectives, ensuring others feel heard and respected.

Problem Solving

• Identifies and addresses moderately complex issues by analyzing a wide range of data and/or information to identify solutions in accordance with standard practices.
• Proactively escalates unresolved or critical issues with a thorough assessment and suggests potential solutions.
• Reviews, contributes to, and documents problem solving strategies.

Continuous Learning

• Pursues learning opportunities to expand knowledge and skills and/or tools in new areas and stays abreast of the latest industry trends and best practices.
• Proactively seeks and leverages ongoing feedback and training to improve skills.
• Coaches and mentors junior team members, fostering continuous learning and knowledge sharing within and across teams.

Continuous Improvement

• Develops ideas, recommends updates, and/or collaborates on the implementation of process improvements to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of processes, protocols, and workflows across teams, and evaluates the impact on key stakeholders.
• Solicits feedback from others on ideas for alternative approaches and methods for continued improvement.

Performance and Development

• Contributes to the talent development pipeline by participating in candidate interviews, assessing candidates, and providing hiring recommendations.

Location : Santa Clara, CA

Qualifications

Disclaimer:

Certain U.S. based or U.S. customer or client-facing roles may be required to comply with applicable requirements, such as immunization/occupational health mandates, and/or drug testing requirements.

Range and benefit information provided in this posting are specific to the stated locations only

US: Hiring Range in USD from: $91,100 to $187,000 per annum. May be eligible for bonus and equity.

Oracle maintains broad salary ranges for its roles in order to account for variations in knowledge, skills, experience, market conditions and locations, as well as reflect Oracle's differing products, industries and lines of business.

Candidates are typically placed into the range based on the preceding factors as well as internal peer equity.

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