Principal Firmware/Middleware Engineer

Renesas; Town of Texas (WI); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Renesas seeks a Principal Firmware/Middleware Engineer to define and drive the end-to-end embedded software architecture for UALink Switch products, bridging firmware with ASIC design and upper-layer orchestration software.

You will shape the firmware stack, enable fast link training, topology routing, and secure boot, ensuring ultra-high bandwidth and low latency across thousands of AI accelerators in a scalable fabric.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's/Master's/PhD in a related field with 15+ years embedded/silicon firmware experience.
• Expert in C for bare-metal/RTOS and Python for hardware automation.
• Deep knowledge of high-speed interconnects (UALink, NVLink, PCIe).
• Experience in firmware architecture and hardware-software co-design.

Responsibilities

• Define low-level firmware architecture for the UALink ASIC.
• Design initialization, boot, topology routing, and SDKs/APIs for BMCs (OpenBMC/Redfish).
• Optimize latency/bandwidth and implement secure boot, attestation, and robust RAS.

Skills

C programming

Bare-metal/RTOS

Python

Firmware architecture

High-speed interconnects

Education

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

Tools

JTAG

Lauterbach TRACE32

Oscilloscopes

PCIe protocol analyzers

Job description

Principal Firmware/Middleware Engineer

Job Description

As the Principal Firmware Architect for UALink Switch Products, you will serve as the technical visionary responsible for defining, designing, and driving the end-to-end embedded software and firmware architecture for our next-generation AI cluster scale-up switches.

In this high-impact role, you will bridge the gap between cutting-edge silicon (ASICs) and upper-layer cluster orchestration software. You will define how firmware manages complex scale-up topologies, ensures raw hardware performance (maximizing bandwidth and minimizing latency), and maintains absolute reliability across thousands of connected AI accelerators.

1. Architectural Definition & Design

• Fabric Firmware Architecture: Architect and specify the low-level firmware running on internal microcontrollers within the UALink Switch ASIC.
• Hardware-Software Co-Design: Collaborate heavily with ASIC design, logic design (RTL), and verification teams to define hardware-software interfaces, registers, scratchpads, and memory maps.
• Protocol Implementation: Define the firmware stack to support UALink physical, link, and transport layers, managing credits, routing tables, and flow control.

2. Initialization, Boot, & Fabric Management

• Link Initialization & Training: Design deterministic, fast link-training state machines to bring up ultra-high-speed die-to-die and chassis-to-chassis UALink connections.
• Topology Discovery & Routing: Architect efficient algorithms for runtime topology discovery, dynamic routing, and credit management to prevent fabric congestion.
• Platform Orchestration: Lead the design of SDKs and APIs that expose switch functionality to baseboard management controllers (BMCs) using OpenBMC and Redfish APIs.

3. Performance, RAS, & Security

• Latency & Bandwidth Optimization: Fine-tune bare-metal execution paths to guarantee deterministic low latency for collective communication primitives (e.g., All-Reduce, All-to-All).
• Advanced RAS (Reliability, Availability, Serviceability): Design robust error-handling, telemetry, and fault-isolation micro-architectures (e.g., link degradation fallback, FEC, and error containment).
• Security & Root of Trust: Implement secure boot, cryptographic firmware authentication, and runtime attestation to ensure fabric integrity.

Qualifications

Education & Experience

• Degree: Bachelor's or Master's/Ph.D. in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related discipline.
• Experience: 15+ years of hands‑on experience in embedded systems, server platform architecture, or low-level silicon firmware development.

Technical Skill Set

• Language Masteries: Expert-level proficiency in C for bare-metal and RTOS environments (e.g., ThreadX, FreeRTOS, Zephyr) and Python for hardware automation and modeling.
• Protocol Expertise: Deep technical understanding of high-speed scale-up/scale-out interconnect protocols (UALink, NVLink, CXL, or PCIe Gen5/Gen6).
• Network Switching Concepts: Comprehensive knowledge of credit-based flow control, packet routing, physical layer (PHY) equalization, and SerDes management.
• Tooling: Strong familiarity with hardware debuggers (JTAG, Lauterbach Lauterbach/TRACE32) and lab equipment (Oscilloscopes, PCIe/Protocol Analyzers).

Company Description

Renesas is one of the top global semiconductor companies in the world. We strive to develop a safer, healthier, greener, and smarter world, and our goal is to make every endpoint intelligent by offering product solutions in the automotive, industrial, infrastructure and IoT markets. Our robust product portfolio includes world leading MCUs, SoCs, Analog and power products, plus Winning Combination solutions that curate these complementary products. We are a key supplier to the world's leading manufacturers of electronics you rely on every day; you may not see our products, but they are all around you.

Renesas employs roughly 21,000 people in more than 30 countries worldwide. As a global team, our employees actively embody the Renesas Culture, our guiding principles based on five key elements: Transparent, Agile, Global, Innovative, and Entrepreneurial.

Renesas believes in, and has a commitment to, diversity and inclusion, with initiatives and a leadership team dedicated to its resources and values. At Renesas, we want to build a sustainable future where technology helps make our lives easier. Join us and build your future by being part of what's next in electronics and the world.

Renesas is an embedded semiconductor solution provider driven by its Purpose, To Make Our Lives Easier . With a global team of over 21,000 engineers and problem solvers in more than 30 countries, we offer the opportunity to work on world‑leading technology for Automotive, Industrial, Infrastructure, and IoT, shaping a safer, healthier, greener, and smarter future.

At Renesas, TAGIE is our culture, grounded in being Transparent,