Principal Software Engineer, GPU Firmware and GPU System Software — CSP Engagements

2100 NVIDIA USA; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 272,000 - 431,250; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity and benefits

Job summary

NVIDIA Corporation in Santa Clara is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead the CSP Engagements team. This role focuses on GPU firmware and system software, ensuring seamless integration across large-scale deployments.

The ideal candidate has over 15 years of experience in GPU technologies and a deep expertise in GPU architecture. Responsibilities include driving firmware updates, uncovering customer pain points, and streamlining processes to enhance firmware usability for hyperscale customers.

Competitive salary range of $272,000 - $431,250 based on experience, along with equity and benefits provided by NVIDIA.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in GPU system software or firmware.
• Deep understanding of GPU architecture and its impact on performance.
• Experience with firmware lifecycle management at scale.

Responsibilities

• Drive GPU firmware & software work streams with engineering teams.
• Gather and synthesize feedback on GPU firmware/software.
• Orchestrate GPU firmware updates for large-scale deployments.

Skills

GPU system software

GPU firmware

Multi-GPU architecture

Customer obsession

Error handling

Education

BS or MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field

Tools

GPU monitoring tools

Job description

We're looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join our CSP Engagements team as the technical focal point for GPU firmware and GPU system software, working directly with engineering teams of key CSP / hyperscale customers to ensure they can reliably manage, update, and operate NVIDIA GPU firmware at fleet scale.

Responsibilities

• Drive GPU firmware & software work streams with CSP engineering teams — ensuring they understand GPU firmware architecture (VBIOS, InfoROM, microcontroller firmware), update sequencing, recovery procedures, and GPU power management.
• Gather and synthesize CSP feedback on GPU firmware/software — covering manageability, observability, security requirements (e.g., multi‑tenancy isolation, secure boot, attestation), and performance — and champion those priorities into NVIDIA's GPU firmware/software feature roadmap and delivery plan.
• Drive GPU firmware update orchestration for large‑scale deployments — multi‑GPU update sequencing, rollback strategy, failure handling, and validation across hundreds of GPUs per rack.
• Serve as the technical focal point between NVIDIA and CSP firmware/software engineering — ensuring GPU behaviors (error recovery flows, thermal protection, power state transitions) are well‑documented and accessible for customer integration.
• Identify cross‑CSP GPU SW/FW issue patterns — common update failures, recovery gaps, and configuration problems — and drive documentation, tooling, and test strategy improvements.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in GPU system software, GPU firmware, or accelerator platform engineering.
• BS or MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• Deep understanding of GPU architecture internals: streaming multiprocessors, GEMM execution, compute kernels, memory hierarchy, and how firmware/driver decisions impact GPU compute performance.
• Understanding of multi‑GPU fabric architectures (NVLink, or similar) and how firmware coordinates across multiple GPUs in a rack‑scale system.
• Understanding of GPU firmware architecture: VBIOS, GPU microcontroller firmware, InfoROM, and their interaction with the GPU driver stack.
• Experience with firmware update lifecycle management at scale: multi-device update sequencing, A/B updates, rollback, staged rollout, emergency recovery.
• Understanding of GPU error handling and recovery flows — how firmware-level errors propagate through the driver stack to application‑visible failures.
• Experience with GPU health monitoring and telemetry: Xid errors, thermal events, power events, ECC counters, and their significance for firmware/software teams.
• Customer obsession — genuine passion for simplifying GPU firmware integration for fleet‑scale customers.
• Proven success influencing engineering teams to improve quality and fleet manageability.

Additional desirable skills

• Direct experience with NVIDIA GPU VBIOS, GPU microcontroller firmware, or GPU driver internals.
• Background in GPU fleet management at 10K+ GPU scale — firmware rollout, health‑based remediation, fleet‑wide configuration management.
• Experience with GPU error taxonomy (Xid classification, NVLink error counters, ECC events) and building runbooks around GPU firmware behavior.
• Understanding of GPU security: secure boot chain, code signing, attestation, debug authentication, multi‑tenancy isolation at the firmware level.
• Familiarity with GPU power management architecture and its impact on workload performance at fleet scale.

Compensation & Benefits

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is 272,000 USD - 431,250 USD. You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Equal Opportunity & Diversity

NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.