Software Principal Engineer

Software Principal Engineer
Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) builds the products that power infrastructure, solutions, and data management our customers need most. Our teams design and develop the hardware and software that connect infrastructure, accelerate computational workloads, integrate across the stack, protect data continuity, and deliver the platforms, applications, and diagnostics our customers rely on every day at enterprise scale. Within ISG, innovation isn't just about creating new technology- it's about challenging assumptions and reimagining how work gets done. Engineers define intent, author precise specifications, and orchestrate AI agents that execute at speed and scale. AI is embedded throughout our development process, helping us move faster, learn quicker, and deliver greater impact. Yet the most important contribution remains uniquely human: deciding what to build, designing how it should work, and applying the judgment needed to earn our customers' trust. When your products power critical infrastructure around the world, that responsibility matters.
Join us as a Software Principal Engineer on our Networking Dev/Test team in Chennai/Bangalore to do the best work of your career and make a profound social impact.
What you’ll achieve
As a Software Principal Engineer on the Dev/Test team, you will lead the end-to-end validation of Dell networking products and solutions for data center and AI fabric environments, driving quality in a fast-paced development environment from requirements review and test strategy through test development, automation, release qualification, and customer deployment.
You will collaborate with platform, silicon, software, validation, solutions, and customer-facing teams to deliver next-generation Dell Enterprise SONiC capabilities for the high-performance network fabrics powering the Dell AI Factory. You will also apply AI-assisted engineering tools throughout the test lifecycle to accelerate delivery, improve quality, and enhance engineering productivity.
You will:
Own test strategy and validation for complex networking features end to end, including requirements analysis, test plans, test case design, automation, execution, and release qualification of production-quality Dell Enterprise SONiC software & design and build test topologies to validate large-scale data center networks and AI fabric capabilities on Dell PowerSwitch (800GbE/1.6TbE) DLC platforms, covering RoCEv2, PFC/ECN-based congestion management, adaptive routing, MRC, SRv6 and dynamic load balancing for large-scale GPU clusters.
Troubleshoot complex system, scalability, performance, and customer issues across the control plane, data plane, SAI, and switch ASIC layers and apply Dell-provided AI tools for test script development, test case generation, log analysis, debugging, and documentation, while championing AI-enabled engineering and automation practices across the team..
Collaborate with global hardware, silicon, quality engineering, product management, solutions, and customer-facing teams to deliver reliable, high-quality releases through continuous integration and delivery.
Take the first step towards your dream careerEvery Dell Technologies team member brings something unique to the table. Here’s what we are looking for with this role:
Essential Requirements
Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience, with 10+ years of experience developing, testing, and automating validation of networking software for enterprise, cloud, and high-performance data center environments along with Strong debugging skills using packet captures, system logs, and switch telemetry, with a proven ability to work with development and customer engineering teams to reproduce and isolate issues.
In-depth knowledge of data center and AI fabric networking, including routing (BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, BGP EVPN, VxLAN, SRv6, multicast), switching, ACLs, QoS, and leaf-spine architectures, as well as AI/HPC Ethernet fabrics (RDMA/RoCEv2, PFC, ECN/DCQCN, adaptive routing, and dynamic load balancing) on 800GbE/1.6TbE platforms.
Experience developing test strategies, test plans, and validation matrices from protocol RFCs and feature specifications, designing test topologies, and executing functional, regression, scale, performance, and interoperability tests using tools such as Ixia IxNetwork, Spirent TestCenter, TRex, Scapy, PTF, sonic-mgmt, and Wireshark along with hands-on experience with test automation frameworks (pytest, pyATS, SpyTest, Robot Framework) and network automation (REST APIs, gNMI/OpenConfig, NETCONF/YANG, Ansible), including integrating automated test suites into CI/CD pipelines such as Jenkins or GitHub Actions, with version control in Git.
Desirable Requirements
Experience with open-source networking projects, AI/ML tools, or the broader AI infrastructure ecosystem with proactive and quality-focused mindset with a strong understanding of SDLC, testing methodologies, and quality engineering best practices
Familiarity with Dell AI Factory solutions, PowerEdge AI servers, DLC Platform, and Kubernetes- or Slurm-based AI/HPC clusters.
Who we are
We believe that each of us has the power to make an impact. That’s why we put our team members at the center of everythi

Skills
REST API, Git, Kubernetes, CI/CD, Jenkins, Ansible, Automation Testing, Product Management, Documentation

Experience
10+ yrs

Work arrangement
No