Staff Engineer - Software - DSP

Ambiq-Micro,-Inc.; Singapore; On-site; SGD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Ambiq seeks a Staff Embedded Software Engineer, DSP, to drive DSP environment development in AmbiqSuite on Ambiq SoC devices and emulation platforms. You will port and optimize HAL code for DSP peripherals, work with HiFi5 DSP, real-time schedulers, and IPC/RPC protocols, and contribute to pre- and post-silicon verification and performance tuning.

The role requires hands-on debugging, lab work, and collaboration with global teams across multiple sites.

Qualifications

• MS in ECE or CS with 6+ years DSP software experience, or BS with 8+ years in related subsystems.
• Experience with Cadence HiFi5 DSP and Xtensa toolchain; profiling for performance.
• Experience with inter-processor communications using hardware mailboxes and shared memory.
• Experience with multicore embedded processing systems.
• Knowledge of DSP algorithms (AEC, NR, EQ, AGC) and latency/power optimization.
• Experience with ARM Cortex-M MCUs in C/assembly and common IDEs.
• Proficient in lab debugging with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and audio analyzers.
• Familiar with Jira/Confluence and Git; strong documentation skills.
• Scripting in Python; ability to automate tests and workflows.

Responsibilities

• Lead HAL interface design for peripherals on HiFi5 DSP (timers, PDM, I2S).
• Evaluate RTOS options and port to SDKs.
• Design boot state machines and IPC/RPC protocols.
• Develop DSP environment examples and test cases.
• Support customers by optimizing workloads.
• Lead pre-silicon FPGA verification and post-silicon bring-up.
• Assist DV/test engineers and customers as needed.

Skills

DSP software environments

ARM Cortex-M

C/Assembly

RTOS porting

HAL development

IPC/RPC design

DSP testing & debugging

Python scripting

Git version control

Jira/Confluence

Lab equipment debugging

Multicore processing

Profiling tools

I2S interfaces

PDM interfaces

Education

MS in ECE/CS

BS in ECE/CS

Tools

Cadence HiFi5 DSP

Xtensa toolchain

Profiling tools (MIPS)

ARM MCU IDEs (Keil/IAR/Eclipse)

Job description

Ambiq is on a mission to enable intelligence everywhere — powering the AI edge revolution with the world's lowest-power semiconductor solutions.

Built on our proprietary sub- and near-threshold technology, our chips deliver multi-fold improvements in energy efficiency without costly process scaling. Since 2010, we've shipped over 300 million units to customers building smarter wearables, medical devices, IoT products, and AI-powered edge applications.

Our cross-functional teams span design, research, development, production, marketing, sales, and operations across Austin, Hsinchu, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Singapore. We move fast, tackle hard problems, and create space for people to grow through complex, meaningful work that shapes the future of technology.

We're looking for self-motivated, creative problem-solvers who are eager to push technological limits and make a real impact in energy efficiency.

At Ambiq, we live by five values:Innovate. Collaborate. Focus. Learn. Achieve.

If that's you, join us — the intelligence everywhere revolution starts here.

Scope

As the Staff Embedded Software Engineer, DSP at Ambiq, you will drive the development and testing of the customer DSP environment in AmbiqSuite SDK on Ambiq SoC devices and emulation platforms. This includes evaluating and refining the execution environment for our HiFi5 DSP, including real-time execution/schedulers, inter-processor communications, and remote messaging protocols. You will also be responsible for porting and optimizing our Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) code to support DSP-assigned peripherals. In addition, you will be responsible for the initial bring-up of the DSP as a co-processor for our ARM Cortex M55 application.

This role will work within our global MCU and Radio software development teams and will work closely with the architecture team and local SoC design team, focusing on DSP software development and test activities.

A successful candidate should be a fast-learning, result-driven, and self-motivated team player with an “always learning” mindset. They should have an inquiring spirit and be comfortable in a lab environment and in executing hands-on debugging for embedded systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead thedesign,development,andmaintenance of theHAL interfaces forperipherals assigned to the HiFi5 DSP. These willlikely includeperipherals such as timers, PDM interfaces, I2Sinterfaces,and low-power analog microphone interfaces.
• Evaluate possible RTOS or lightweight schedulers and port these to our SDKs.
• Design and develop boot state machines and IPC/RPC messaging protocols.
• Design, develop, and maintain examples and software test cases for the DSP environment.
• Support customer use of the environment, including optimizing customer workloads.
• Take a key role in pre-silicon verification on the FPGA, as well as post-silicon bring-up, verification, performance optimization, and debugging, focusing on these blocks.
• Support design verification (DV) andvalidationengineers, field engineers, and key customers as needed.

Qualifications

• MS in ECE or Computer Science and 6+ years of experience or BS ECE/CS with 8+ years of experience, with at least 3 years focusing onDSP softwareenvironments and code development, or related subsystems;
• Specific experience with the Cadence HiFi5 DSP and the Xtensa toolchainandexperience withusing profiling tools forperformance evaluation (MIPS) is a real plus.
• Experience with inter-processor communications systems usinghardwaremailboxes and shared memory is preferred.
• Experience working with multicore embedded processing systems is preferred;
• Experience with audio processing algorithms on DSPs is a plus(e.g.AEC, NR, AEC, EQ, and AGC).
• Experience with DSP algorithmoptimizationto reduce latency and power is preferred.
• Familiarity with the basics of digital signal processing theory (e.g., sampling, time/frequency domain transformation, FIR, IIR, FFT/IFFT, and SNR).
• Experience with developing embedded MCU code in C and assembly language on ARM Cortex-M Processors is required.
• Experience with at least one MCU IDE from ARM, Keil, IAR, Eclipse, Ozone, or other;
• Good hands-on experience on lab equipment such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, audio analyzers,etc. for debugging issues;
• Experience with Jira,Confluenceand collaboration tools;
• Experience with source code control systems (git)required;
• Understanding of software testing and test automation principles;
• Excellent problem-solving skills dealing with complex system-level issues related to HW/SW debug;
• Experience with scripting languages required, and Python experience is specifically desirable;
• Strong communicationand documentation skills.