Firmware Engineer

Acceler8 Talent; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Acceler8 Talent is seeking a Firmware Engineer in Mountain View, CA to own the platform firmware that powers an AI accelerator system. You will work across the firmware stack from secure boot to device firmware, focusing on security, reliability, and observability.

The role involves developing boot ROMs, embedded controllers, BMCs, and power-management firmware, with emphasis on chain of trust, verified boot, and secure updates. Collaboration with hardware and software teams is essential.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience developing platform or system firmware.

Responsibilities

• Develop platform firmware across boot ROM, bootloaders, embedded controllers, BMCs, and device firmware for accelerator silicon and systems.
• Implement secure boot and hardware root-of-trust capabilities including measured/verified boot, code signing, chain of trust, authenticated firmware updates, anti-rollback protections, and secure debug.
• Build power-management firmware covering sequencing, PMIC control, DVFS, thermal protection, and system power budgeting.
• Develop monitoring and telemetry for sensors, platform health, RAS, error logging, and system-management interfaces.
• Build and maintain JTAG, scan, and other debug infrastructure.
• Support board bring-up, post-silicon validation, and system-level debugging.
• Partner with silicon, hardware, and software teams on firmware interfaces, threat modeling, and hardware-software co-design.
• Use assisted development and review tools to accelerate firmware delivery and quality.

Skills

C programming

Assembly

Embedded/firmware

ARM architecture

Secure boot / chain of trust

Hardware root of trust

JTAG/BDM debugging

Power management firmware

RTOS/bare-metal

OS/firmware interfaces

Tools

U-Boot/UEFI/coreboot

Job description

Firmware Engineer

Mountain View, CA

About the Role

An early-stage AI hardware company is seeking a Firmware Engineer to own the platform firmware that brings its AI accelerator systems to life and keeps them secure, reliable, and observable.

You will work across the firmware stack, from secure boot and hardware root of trust through embedded-controller, BMC, and device firmware. The role also covers power management, telemetry, system monitoring, and the debug infrastructure required to operate accelerator platforms at scale.

What You'll Do

• Develop platform firmware across boot ROM, bootloaders, embedded controllers, BMCs, and device firmware for custom accelerator silicon and systems.
• Implement secure boot and hardware root-of-trust capabilities, including measured and verified boot, code signing, chain of trust, authenticated firmware updates, anti-rollback protections, and secure debug.
• Build power-management firmware covering power sequencing, PMIC and voltage-rail control, DVFS, thermal protection, and system power budgeting.
• Develop monitoring and telemetry capabilities for sensors, platform health, RAS, error logging, and system-management interfaces.
• Build and maintain JTAG, scan, and other debug infrastructure.
• Support board bring-up, post-silicon validation, and system-level debugging.
• Partner with silicon architecture, board hardware, and software teams on firmware interfaces, threat modeling, and hardware-software co-design.
• Use assisted development and review tools to accelerate firmware delivery and improve quality.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years of experience developing platform or system firmware.
• Strong C and assembly programming skills for embedded or firmware environments.
• Experience developing bare-metal or RTOS-based firmware on ARM or similar architectures.
• Hands-on experience with boot firmware, embedded controllers, BMCs, or device firmware.
• Direct experience implementing secure boot, hardware root of trust, code signing, chain of trust, and secure or anti-rollback firmware updates.
• Experience with power-management firmware, including power sequencing, PMICs, voltage regulators, DVFS, and thermal or power telemetry.
• Experience with platform monitoring and debugging, including sensors, telemetry, RAS, error handling, JTAG, and management interfaces.
• Strong understanding of the hardware-software boundary, including reading datasheets and specifications and performing lab-based bring-up using oscilloscopes and logic analyzers.

Preferred Experience

• Rust for embedded or firmware development.
• OpenBMC, UEFI, or coreboot.
• Accelerator, GPU, server, or data-center platform firmware.
• Applied cryptography and key management.
• Trusted execution environments such as ARM TrustZone.
• Side-channel or fault-injection security.
• Security standards such as NIST SP 800-193 or FIPS 140-3.
• SBOM and software supply-chain security.

Relevant Keywords

Platform Firmware, Embedded Firmware, System Firmware, Boot ROM, Bootloader, U-Boot, UEFI, coreboot, BMC, OpenBMC, Embedded Controller, Device Firmware, Bare-Metal, RTOS, ARM, Cortex-M, C, C++, Assembly, Rust, Secure Boot, Verified Boot, Measured Boot, Root of Trust, Hardware Root of Trust, Chain of Trust, Code Signing, Authenticated Firmware Updates, Anti-Rollback, Trusted Execution Environment, TrustZone, Power Sequencing, PMIC, Voltage Regulators, DVFS, Thermal Management, Power Telemetry, Sensors, RAS, Error Logging, Platform Management, JTAG, SWD, Board Bring-Up, Post-Silicon Bring-Up, Hardware-Software Co-Design, Oscilloscope, Logic Analyzer, Server Firmware, Accelerator Firmware, GPU Firmware, SoC Firmware