Principal/Staff Engineer – Firmware Development

WhiteCrow Research Pvt. Ltd.; Singapore; On-site; SGD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

WhiteCrow Research Pvt. Ltd. is seeking a Principal/Staff Engineer – Firmware Development to lead security firmware efforts for SSD products. You will engage directly with customers, triage issues, and drive secure firmware updates.

Role requires 5+ years in embedded security, strong C/C++/Rust skills, and Python for tooling. You will operate in a global environment with cross-functional teams and product security initiatives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or master's in computer or electrical engineering with 5+ years of relevant experience.
• Experience in a customer-facing engineering role preferred.
• Embedded security knowledge: cryptography, secure boot, firmware updates.
• Familiarity with storage security standards (TCG Opal, Enterprise SSC, NVMe).
• Proficient in C/C++, Rust; Python for test automation.
• Understanding PCIe/NVMe, SATA or SAS interfaces.

Responsibilities

• Provide customer engineering support as the primary escalation point for Security Firmware on SSD products.
• Guide customers through configuration, integration, and validation of SSD security features.
• Reproduce and analyze failures; document root causes and corrective actions.
• Develop, test, and validate security firmware changes meeting specs before release.
• Assess vulnerabilities and support remediation, mitigation planning, and disclosure.
• Support security Audits and certifications; produce integration guides and docs.
• Represent the client in technical engagements with customer teams.
• Maintain accurate issue records, root-cause reports, and knowledge base content.
• Collaborate with firmware, product engineering, QA, and field teams to improve outcomes.

Skills

Customer-facing engineering

Embedded security

Cryptography fundamentals

Debugging & triage

Technical communication

AI literacy

Education

Bachelor's/Master's in Computer or Electrical Engineering

Tools

C/C++/Rust

Python

Debuggers

Firmware traces

Protocol analyzers

Job description

We are global talent research, insight, and sourcing specialists with offices in the UK, USA, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Dubai, and India. Our international reach has helped us to understand and penetrate specialist markets at a global level. In addition to this, our service is also extended to complement our client’s in-house talent acquisition teams.

About our client

Our client is a global technology leader specializing in advanced memory and storage solutions that power next-generation computing and data-driven applications. With strong expertise in semiconductor innovation, the organization develops high-performance memory technologies across DRAM, NAND, and storage platforms for applications spanning data centers, artificial intelligence, mobile devices, client computing, and intelligent edge ecosystems.

Driven by a commitment to technology advancement, operational excellence, and customer-centric innovation, the company plays a significant role in enabling modern digital infrastructure and compute-intensive workloads worldwide.

As a Principal/Staff Engineer – Firmware Development, you will be responsible for...

Supporting customers and debugging firmware

• Providing customer engineering support by acting as the primary technical escalation point for Security Firmware on SSD products, triaging, prioritizing, and driving customer-reported security issues to closure within committed response times.
• Guiding customers through the configuration, integration, and validation of SSD security features, including TCG Opal/Pyrite/Ruby and Enterprise SSC, ATA and NVMe security commands, self-encrypting drive operation, secure boot and signed firmware updates, sanitize and cryptographic erase, key management, and device attestation.
• Reproducing customer, qualification, and field failures in the lab; analyzing firmware logs, traces, and bus captures; debugging Security Firmware source; and delivering documented root causes and corrective actions.
• Developing, unit testing, and functionally validating targeted Security Firmware changes and customer-specific configurations and builds, ensuring each change is meeting security, functional, performance, and quality/reliability requirements of the technical specification matrix before release.
• Assessing the impact of reported vulnerabilities and security findings on products already in the field and supporting mitigation planning, remediation delivery, and customer disclosure.
• Supporting customer security audits, security questionnaires, and certification activities, including TCG specification compliance, FIPS 140-3, and Common Criteria, while producing application notes, integration guides, and technical documentation that customers are relying on.
• Representing the client in direct technical engagements with customer engineering teams and translating Security Firmware behavior, constraints, and risks into terms that are clear to both engineering and non-engineering audiences.
• Providing management, multifunctional team members, and the firmware team with consistent, detailed, and appropriately summarized information regarding customer issues, escalation status, and firmware-fix progress.
• Maintaining accurate issue records, root-cause reports, and knowledge-base content so that recurring customer questions are being answered faster over time.
• Developing and maintaining collaborative, open, and constructive relationships with peers, management, and partner teams across firmware development, product engineering, quality, and field applications.
• Providing technical capability that is continuously improving team involvement, morale, and productivity.
• Continuously improving technical capabilities and communication skills through ongoing personal development.
• Integrating AI-assisted tools and insights into daily work to improve efficiency, quality, and effectiveness while exercising sound judgment and complying with organizational standards and requirements.
• Contributing to a culture of continuous improvement by identifying, testing, and sharing AI-enabled enhancements within the scope of work.

What you already have...

• Bachelor's/master's degree in computer or electrical engineering with 5+ years of relevant experience.
• Experience in a customer facing engineering role such as customer engineering support, field applications, sustaining engineering, or escalation management is strongly preferred
• Embedded Security domain knowledge and experience, including cryptography fundamentals (AES, RSA/ECC, SHA), key management, secure boot, and secure firmware update
• Familiarity with storage security standards and features such as TCG Opal and Enterprise SSC, ATA Security, NVMe security and sanitize commands, and self-encrypting drives is an advantage
• Expertise in the use of programming languages (eg. C, C++, RUST), programming tools & environments
• Experience programming in Python for test automation, log parsing, and debug tooling is an advantage
• Understanding of storage interfaces including ideally PCIe/NVMe, SATA, or SAS
• Experience with NAND flash and other non-volatile storage is an advantage
• Experience in storage industry, storage systems, or a related technology is an advantage
• Proficiency in debugging and resolving code problems for firmware applications, including the use of debuggers, firmware trace and log analysis, and protocol analyzers
• Experience with defect tracking, change control, and firmware release processes in a production or sustaining environment
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to manage multiple concurrent escalations under time pressure and stay effective in customer visible situations
• Ability to apply baseline digital fluency and role-appropriate AI literacy to use AI-enabled tools responsibly and effectively for research, analysis, content creation, problem-solving, operational tasks, and achieving business outcomes.