After 15 years in power engineering, Ruixuan Li transitioned to leading AI projects at NVIDIA, driven by the company’s core values and strong learning culture.
The Shenzhen, China-based Li, who grew up in the northern China province of Heilongjiang, always knew she wanted to become an engineer. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in electronic information science and technology, she went on to pursue a master’s in microelectronics.
Shortly after, she started working as a power engineer at a telecommunications technology company before moving on to stints at other tech companies, where she led several AI innovation projects.
Her engineering career took a turn two and a half years ago when a former colleague introduced her to her current manager at NVIDIA. The more she learned about NVIDIA’s system validation team and the company’s strong learning culture and core values, the more interested she became in joining.
“Before joining NVIDIA, I had no experience working on GPUs, but the team fully supported me, providing training and mentorship as I worked on my first project,” Li recalled. “They helped me get up to speed quickly and encouraged me to take on more leadership roles.”
As a lead validation engineer, Li has been at the forefront of developing next-generation GPUs. In addition to offering technical expertise, she helps orchestrate the development process.
“I oversee the entire project, and I have to understand the overall scope, become familiar with the design and prepare the qualification plan,” she said. “I assign resources, manage the schedule and direct the process.”
She also identifies bugs and collaborates with project managers to resolve issues, helping ensure that the project is completed on time without sacrificing quality.
Li recently spent a month at NVIDIA’s Santa Clara office, participating in her first chip bring-up project. “I was quite nervous going into the bring-up,” she said. “But meeting colleagues from around the world and knowing we had each other’s backs quickly reassured me.”
At NVIDIA, Li’s grown comfortable with asking questions and seeking help. In a technical role like hers, accuracy is critical, but so is making mistakes and experiencing failure, as these moments are key to learning, optimizing processes and improving product quality.
Li is appreciative that NVIDIA gives her the flexibility to prioritize her family and well-being. Outside of work — for example, during NVIDIA’s quarterly free days — she enjoys playing badminton and basketball. She was last year’s mixed doubles champion in the badminton tournament held in the office. Li also loves cooking traditional Chinese dishes for her family, especially her daughter.
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