custom wrapper to a form api field
The way you are using #prefix and #suffix is wrong. It should not be a part of #upload_validators array.

    $form['cvFile'] = array(
    //'#title' =&gt; t('Upload your CV'),

    '#type' =&gt; 'managed_file',
    //'#description' =&gt; t('The uploaded file will be processed.'),
    '#default_value' =&gt; variable_get('cvFile', ''),

    '#upload_validators' =&gt; array(
        'file_validate_extensions' =&gt; array('pdf doc docx'),    
    ),

    '#prefix' =&gt; '&lt;span class="row"&gt;',
    '#suffix' =&gt; '&lt;/span&gt;',
    '#upload_location' =&gt; 'public://cv/',
    '#process' =&gt; array('gng_job_my_cv_element_process'),

    );


Check the form API for this : https://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/developer%21topics%21forms_api_reference.html/7#prefix
https://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/developer%21topics%21forms_api_reference.html/7#suffix