Senior SSD Reliability Engineer - Contract

SK HMS Systems engineering / Quality assurance group is looking for a motivated individual to join our reliability testing team.

SK Hynix Memory Solutions has a key design center in San Jose with focus on enterprise datacenter SSD development. The Reliability System Engineering team is seeking a talented and detail-oriented test engineer to join us and help ensure our products meet the highest standards of quality, performance, and reliability.

As a test engineer, you will help design, develop, automate, and execute test plans to validate the functionality, endurance, and reliability of our enterprise data center SSD products. You will work closely with other functional development teams to identify, reproduce, and resolve defects during the development lifecycle. Your work will directly impact product quality and customer satisfaction.

Internally, we are always looking to innovate and enhance our test coverage and automation capabilities, using various new technologies like generative AI. As a member of the team, you will also have opportunities to contribute to these investigative and development efforts to design and develop new automation platforms and test coverage systems.

A successful candidate should be self-driven, innovative, able to communicate clearly, and must work well in a collaborative team environment.

• →Develop and maintain test plans, test cases, and test reports based on product requirements and industry standards (e.g., JEDEC, OCP, NVMe, PCIe).
• →Design, develop, and maintain automated test scripts and frameworks for SSD validation (using Python, Java, and C++).
• →Execute functional, endurance, and stress tests on SSDs to maximize test coverage
• →Partner with our NAND, FW, SoC, and other validation teams to work issues to swift and effective solutions
• →Analyze test results, log defects, and track issues through resolution using JIRA.
• →Maintain and enhance existing automation frameworks and test coverage capabilities with modern innovative solutions
• →Lead deep-dive root-cause analysis for complex, intermittent system-level failures, driving cross-functional tiger teams to identify architectural or firmware fixes.
• →Stay up to date with emerging SSD technologies, protocols, and industry test methodologies

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience in QA testing and test automation, specifically focusing on SSDs, enterprise storage devices, data servers, or embedded systems.
• Demonstrated ability to independently drive end-to-end validation cycles from early firmware stages through mass production with minimal oversight.
• Proficiency in scripting/programming languages: Python (preferred), Java, C/C++.
• Demonstrated experience in root-cause analysis (RCA) for complex failure modes
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

• Experience with enterprise or data center SSDs.
• Strong understanding of SSD architecture, NVMe/SATA protocols, and storage interfaces.
• Familiarity with storage test methodology (such as RDT and design margin testing)
• Understanding of reliability concepts such as life models, AFR and MTBF
• Experience working with volume SSD test system such as Flexstar, Neosem, Advantest, or UniTest equipment
• Advanced hands-on experience with hardware protocol analyzers (e.g., Teledyne LeCroy) for debugging PCIe/NVMe link-level and bus-state issues.
• Knowledge of JEDEC, NVMe, OCP, or other storage industry standards
• Experience with statistics analysis applications such as JMP for data analysis
• Experience with utilizing reinforcement learning and generative AI for test development and data analysis
• Experience with joint qualification process for enterprise customers
• Previous track record working as a contractor or senior consultant, capable of rapidly onboarding and accelerating project delivery in a fast-paced environment.