Roles they hire for
- Networking SoC software engineer
- Linux driver engineer for Ethernet and storage
What they emphasise
- Networking and storage SoCs
- Ethernet PHYs and switches
- Linux drivers
Brush up on
Linux networking stackDMA ringsPCIeEthernet PHY basicsInterrupt coalescing
How the rounds usually run
A typical silicon vendor loop for embedded roles. Companies vary by team and seniority.
Online assessment or screen
- C output prediction, pointers and bit manipulation
- Digital logic and OS basics
- For experienced hires, often a recruiter and hiring-manager screen instead
Example: What does this print: an unsigned char set to 200 plus 100, printed as an integer?
Technical 1: C and embedded fundamentals
- Pointers, volatile, const, alignment and endianness
- Interrupts, stacks and memory layout
- Live C coding on bit fields, ring buffers or string handling
Example: Implement a lock-free single-producer, single-consumer ring buffer.
Technical 2: Drivers and architecture
- Designing a peripheral driver and its API
- DMA, caches and interrupt priorities
- RTOS internals and debugging stories
Example: Design a SPI driver that supports blocking, interrupt and DMA modes behind one API.
Technical 3 or hiring manager: system design and projects
- Deep dive into a past project and your design choices
- System-level trade-offs: power, memory, performance
- Sometimes a short presentation on a project
Example: Walk through the hardest bug you've fixed, and what you changed in the process afterwards.
HR and behavioural
- Motivation, teamwork and conflict
- Relocation, notice period and compensation
Example: Tell me about a time you disagreed with a design decision.
Practice questions
Original questions written for Marvell's focus areas, not leaked ones.
- Design a network driver's transmit and receive rings. How do you avoid races with the hardware?
- What is interrupt coalescing, and how does it trade latency for throughput?
- Walk through PCIe enumeration and how a driver maps BARs.
- How do you bring up a new Ethernet PHY when link won't come up?
- A packet processor drops 0.1% of frames under load. How do you find where?
Your prep playlist
Design rounds to practise
Themes are inferred from Marvell's public product lines.
Take an AI mock round styled on Marvell, with follow-ups that probe what you missed.
Start a mock round