Platform Hardware Security

United States Digital Space LLC; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 364,500 - 445,500; Full time

Job summary

United States Digital Space LLC is seeking a Platform Hardware Security Engineer to design and implement security architectures for bare-metal infrastructure. This role demands expertise in low-level systems security and the ability to architect solutions balancing security with performance for AI model training.

Ideal candidates will have hands-on experience with secure boot technologies, a strong grasp of cryptographic protocols, and knowledge of firmware security practices.

Annual salary is $405,000 USD with a minimum education requirement of a Bachelor’s degree.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with secure boot, measured boot, and attestation technologies.
• Strong understanding of cryptographic protocols and hardware security modules.
• Experience with UEFI/BIOS or embedded firmware security.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement secure boot chains for diverse hardware platforms.
• Architect attestation systems providing cryptographic proof of system state.
• Conduct firmware vulnerability assessments and penetration testing.

Skills

Secure boot technologies

Cryptographic protocols

Low-level programming (C, Rust, Assembly)

Firmware vulnerability assessment

Supply chain security

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Job description

About the role

We’re seeking a Platform Hardware Security Engineer to design and implement security architectures for bare‑metal infrastructure. You’ll work with teams across the company to build firmware, bootloaders, operating systems, and attestation systems to ensure the integrity of our infrastructure from the ground up.

This role requires expertise in low-level systems security and the ability to architect solutions that balance security requirements with the performance demands of training AI models across our massive fleet.

Key responsibilities

• Design and implement secure boot chains from firmware through OS initialization for diverse hardware platforms (CPUs, BMCs, switches, peripherals, and embedded microcontrollers)
• Architect attestation systems that provide cryptographic proof of system state from hardware root of trust through application layer
• Develop measured boot implementations and runtime integrity monitoring
• Create reference architectures and security requirements for bare‑metal deployments
• Integrate security controls with infrastructure teams without impacting training performance
• Prototype and validate security mechanisms before production deployment
• Conduct firmware vulnerability assessments and penetration testing
• Build firmware analysis pipelines for continuous security monitoring
• Document security architectures and maintain threat models
• Collaborate with software and hardware vendors to ensure security capabilities meet our requirements

Minimum qualifications

• Hands‑on experience with secure boot, measured boot, and attestation technologies (TPM, Intel TXT, AMD SEV, ARM TrustZone)
• Strong understanding of cryptographic protocols and hardware security modules
• Experience with UEFI/BIOS or embedded firmware security, bootloader hardening, and chain of trust implementation
• Proficiency in low‑level programming (C, Rust, Assembly) and systems programming
• Knowledge of firmware vulnerability assessment and threat modeling
• Track record of designing security architectures for complex, distributed systems
• Experience with supply chain security
• Ability to work effectively across hardware and software boundaries
• Knowledge of NIST firmware security guidelines and hardware security frameworks

Preferred qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in systems security, with at least 5 years focused on firmware and hardware security (firmware, bootloaders, and OS‑level security)
• Experience with confidential computing technologies and hardware‑based TEEs
• Knowledge of SLSA framework and software supply chain security standards
• Experience securing large‑scale HPC or cloud infrastructure
• Contributions to open‑source security projects (coreboot, CHIPSEC, etc.)
• Background in formal verification or security proof techniques
• Experience with silicon root of trust implementations
• Experience working with building foundational technical designs, operational leadership, and vendor collaboration
• Previous work with AI/ML infrastructure security

The annual compensation range for this role is listed below.

Annual Salary: $405,000 USD

Logistics

Minimum education: Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education, training, and/or experience.

Required field of study: A field relevant to the role as demonstrated through coursework, training, or professional experience.

Minimum years of experience: Years of experience required will correlate with the internal job level requirements for the position.

Location‑based hybrid policy: Currently, we expect all staff to be in one of our offices at least 25% of the time. However, some roles may require more time in our offices.

Visa sponsorship: We do sponsor visas! However, we aren’t able to successfully sponsor visas for every role and every candidate. But if we make you an offer, we will make every reasonable effort to get you a visa, and we retain an immigration lawyer to help with this.