System Validation Engineer Intern (Vancouver)

System Validation Engineer Intern Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (Onsite) Duration: 8 months Employment type: Internship / co-op About the role At Astera Labs, we design connectivity solutions that power cloud service providers, server manufacturers, and networking OEMs. We are seeking a System Validation Engineer Intern to validate hardware, firmware, and applications together as an integrated system. You will collaborate closely with cross-functional engineering teams to investigate complex technical challenges, improve validation coverage, and accelerate product deployment. During this 8-month internship, you will own a scoped validation project with guidance from experienced engineers. This is a high-impact, hands-on role at the intersection of software and hardware, where curiosity, creativity, and technical depth come together to help define the next generation of data-center connectivity networks. What you’ll do • Deliver repeatable test workflows and define test specifications for system-level validation. • Automate feature validation and conduct issue investigations using structured test procedures, logs, telemetry, and technical analysis. • Generate comprehensive validation reports and support lab setup activities. • Execute functional, performance, stress, reliability, interoperability, regression, and end-to-end validation scenarios. • Investigate issues across hardware, firmware, software, and applications by reproducing failures, analyzing logs and telemetry, and documenting clear findings. • Track bugs through their lifecycle, including reproduction steps, logs, traces, screenshots, retesting, regression testing, and closure verification. • Validate system functionality, subsystem integration, performance under load, stability, and recovery behavior. • Build dashboards, parse logs, analyze coverage and pass/fail trends, and identify opportunities to make validation more efficient. • Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams to clarify requirements, investigate complex technical challenges, and improve validation processes. • Support interoperability and compliance activities by sharing validation reports, known-issues lists, test results, and follow-up findings. • Own a scoped validation project, provide progress updates, meet milestones, and present project results and recommendations at the end of the internship. Basic qualifications • Enrollment 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. • Strong ownership, curiosity, practical judgment, and willingness to collaborate across engineering functions. • Foundational understanding of computer architecture and platform components, including CPUs, GPUs, memory, storage, and PCIe devices. Preferred experience • Experience with system bring-up, hardware or firmware validation, lab testing, test automation, or device-under-test debugging. • Familiarity with industry protocols such as PCIe, CXL, Ethernet, I2C, and I3C. • Hands-on experience using laboratory equipment such as oscilloscopes, protocol analyzers, traffic generators, power supplies, or thermal-forcing systems. • 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. Compensation and benefits Compensation and benefits for this Vancouver, Canada internship/co-op will be determined under applicable Canadian programs and specified in the offer letter.