Firmware Validation Engineer

QBurst; Thiruvananthapuram; On-site; INR 900,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Job summary

QBurst seeks an experienced Firmware Validation Engineer to join a long-term embedded systems program for a global access control leader.

The role emphasizes validation and verification of BLE, Wi‑Fi, wired protocols and IoT-enabled devices across legacy and new products. Hands-on hardware lab work includes debugging firmware and developing automated validation solutions for multiple MCU platforms.

Qualifications

• Experience in firmware validation and embedded systems testing.
• Proficient in Python with automated test scripts/frameworks.
• Strong C/C++ skills for embedded test harnesses and drivers.
• Experience with RTOS environments (FreeRTOS/TI-RTOS) and timing/concurrency.
• Solid BLE expertise (GATT/GAP/advertising/pairing/bonding).
• Experience validating Wi‑Fi (802.11) provisioning and roaming.
• Protocol validation for MQTT/Matter; debugging interfaces (SPI/I2C/UART).
• Hands-on with TI, Nordic, ST, Renesas or Silicon Labs platforms.

Responsibilities

• Validate BLE features (GATT, GAP, pairing, bonding, connection).
• Perform Wi‑Fi validation including provisioning and roaming.
• Validate MQTT and Matter messaging and AWS IoT Core integration.
• Verify OTA flows using MCUboot and TI OAD with recovery scenarios.
• Assess secure boot, signature validation, anti-rollback and secure storage.
• Debug firmware/hardware issues across multiple chip families.
• Capture and analyze traces using BLE sniffers and Wireshark.
• Develop Python-based automated tests and integrate into CI/CD.

Skills

Firmware validation

Embedded testing

Python

C/C++

RTOS

BLE

Wi-Fi

MQTT/Matter

JTAG/SWD debugging

Wireshark/BLE sniffers

Tools

JTAG/SWD debuggers

BLE sniffers

Wireshark

Logic analyzers

GCC/TI Clang

MCUboot/TI OAD

CI/CD (Jenkins/AWS CodePipeline)

Job description

Description

We are seeking an experienced Firmware Validation Engineer to join a long-term embedded systems programme supporting a global leader in access control solutions.

The role focuses on validation and verification of BLE, Wi-Fi, wired-protocol, and IoT-enabled embedded devices, covering both a substantial portfolio of legacy products and new product development.

The successful candidate will have strong hands-on experience in firmware and hardware validation, wireless and wired protocol testing, security validation, power and performance testing, and test automation. The role requires the ability to work effectively across multiple chipset and MCU platforms, including Texas Instruments (TI), Nordic Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, Renesas, and Silicon Labs.

This is a hands-on engineering role suited to someone comfortable working in a hardware lab environment, debugging firmware-level issues, analysing protocol traces, and developing automated validation solutions.

Responsibilities

• Validate Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) functionality, including GATT, GAP, advertising, pairing, bonding, and connection behaviour.
• Perform Wi-Fi validation, including device provisioning, roaming, connectivity, and Wi-Fi/BLE coexistence scenarios.
• Validate MQTT message delivery, QoS levels, reliability, and integration with AWS IoT Core.
• Validate Matter device commissioning, connectivity, and interoperability.
• Verify SPI, I2C, and UART drivers, interfaces, communication behaviour, and edge cases.
• Validate firmware Over-the-Air (OTA) update flows using MCUboot and TI OAD, including interrupted updates, recovery, rollback, and failure scenarios.
• Verify firmware signature validation, secure boot processes, and anti-rollback protections.
• Perform security validation covering secure boot chains, TrustZone-based key storage, secure element access controls, and anti-tamper scenarios.
• Assess product security implementation against applicable guidance and standards, including UL 2900 and NIST IoT security guidelines.
• Measure and analyse device power consumption across sleep, idle, active, and radio-transmit/receive states.
• Validate battery-life projections and analyse RTOS task execution and timing behaviour under load.
• Execute validation activities on physical TI, Nordic, STMicroelectronics, Renesas, and Silicon Labs hardware platforms.
• Perform hardware and firmware debugging using JTAG/SWD debuggers, logic analysers, BLE sniffers, and related lab equipment.
• Capture and analyse BLE sniffer and Wireshark traces to identify protocol and connectivity issues.
• Develop and maintain Python-based automated test frameworks and scripts.
• Integrate automated validation into CI/CD environments such as Jenkins and AWS CodePipeline.
• Investigate defects, isolate firmware and hardware issues, document findings, and collaborate with firmware development teams through resolution.
• Support validation across both legacy product platforms and new product development programmes, efficiently switching between different architectures and chipset families.

Requirements

• Strong experience in firmware validation, embedded systems testing, or embedded software verification.
• Strong programming experience with Python, ideally with significant experience developing automated test scripts or test frameworks.
• Working knowledge of C/C++, particularly for embedded test harnesses, firmware debugging, or driver-level validation.
• Experience with embedded firmware and RTOS environments such as FreeRTOS and/or TI-RTOS, including understanding of task scheduling, interrupts, timing, and concurrency.
• Strong knowledge of BLE, including GATT, GAP, advertising, pairing, bonding, and connection management.
• Experience validating Wi-Fi 802.11 functionality, including provisioning, roaming, connectivity, and wireless coexistence.
• Protocol-level validation experience with MQTT and/or Matter.
• Hands-on experience debugging SPI, I2C, and UART interfaces using logic analysers or similar tools.
• Practical experience with one or more embedded platforms from Texas Instruments, Nordic Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, Renesas, or Silicon Labs.
• Hands-on experience using JTAG/SWD debuggers, logic analysers, BLE sniffers, and Wireshark.
• Experience validating firmware update and bootloader technologies such as MCUboot and TI OAD.
• Understanding of secure boot, firmware signing, anti-rollback mechanisms, secure key storage, TrustZone, and embedded security concepts.
• Experience with embedded power measurement, battery-operated devices, and performance/timing analysis.
• Experience developing automated tests within CI/CD pipelines, preferably using Jenkins and/or AWS CodePipeline.
• Familiarity with embedded build and compiler toolchains such as GCC and TI Clang.
• Strong troubleshooting and analytical skills with the ability to diagnose issues across firmware, hardware, wireless protocols, and system integration.
• Ability to work effectively across multiple product generations, hardware architectures, and chipset families in a hands-on laboratory environment.