Senior Firmware Engineer

Future Wave Recruiting Solutions, LLC; Rancho Cordova (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual merit increases

RSU eligibility for qualifying

Invention and patent recognition

401(k) employer matching

Length-of-service recognition

Comprehensive medical and health保险 for

Job summary

Future Wave Recruiting Solutions, LLC, in partnership with a leading semiconductor and storage technology organization, seeks an experienced Senior Firmware Engineer with expertise in SSD controller architecture, FTL development, and NAND flash technologies. You will design, develop, optimize, and validate firmware focused on performance, endurance, reliability, and data integrity.

Join a collaborative engineering team to implement robust firmware features, manage development cycles, perform

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science or related field.
• 3+ years of firmware or software applications engineering experience.
• Experience with SSD controller and/or firmware architecture.
• Strong C/C++ programming, data structures and low-level embedded development.
• Experience with JTAG and/or ICE debugging tools.
• Experience using Git or similar version-control systems.
• Strong debugging, analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to work independently and in a small engineering team.
• Able to learn new technologies quickly in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong written, verbal, presentation and technical documentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain FTL architecture and firmware.
• Develop and optimize I/O flows, GC, wear leveling, and related algorithms.
• Improve NAND endurance while maintaining performance and data integrity.
• Develop bad-block detection, isolation, recovery, and data-migration mechanisms.
• Manage NAND block lifecycle and firmware processes.
• Design robust metadata structures for mapping-table reconstruction and fast init.
• Develop mechanisms to prevent NAND issues including read disturb and retention loss.
• Design RAID encode/decode flows and data-protection mechanisms.
• Improve overall SSD reliability and fault-tolerance.
• Design power-loss protection and recovery algorithms; optimize recovery post power-loss.

Skills

C/C++

Firmware development

Embedded systems

SSD firmware

Git

JTAG/ICE debugging

Problem solving

Education

Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science

Tools

JTAG/ICE debugging tools

Job description

Future Wave Recruiting Solutions is partnering with a leading semiconductor and storage technology organization to identify an experienced Senior Firmware Engineer with strong expertise in SSD controller architecture, Flash Translation Layer (FTL) development, and NAND flash technologies.

This position will play a key role in the design, development, optimization, and validation of SSD firmware, with particular emphasis on performance, endurance, reliability, and data integrity.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain Flash Translation Layer (FTL) architecture and firmware.
• Develop and optimize I/O flows, Garbage Collection (GC), Wear Leveling, and related algorithms.
• Improve NAND endurance while maintaining system performance and data integrity.

NAND Block Management & Metadata

• Develop bad-block detection, isolation, recovery, and data-migration mechanisms.
• Manage NAND block lifecycle and associated firmware processes.
• Design robust metadata structures that enable efficient mapping-table reconstruction and fast system initialization.

Data Reliability & Error Handling

• Develop mechanisms to prevent and mitigate NAND-related issues including read disturb, program/erase failures, and data-retention loss.
• Design and implement RAID encode/decode flows and other data-protection mechanisms.
• Improve overall SSD reliability and fault tolerance.
• Design and implement power-loss protection and recovery algorithms to maintain data and metadata consistency during unexpected shutdowns.
• Optimize recovery processes to provide fast and reliable system startup following power-loss events.

Performance & Resource Optimization

• Optimize channel, die, and plane access scheduling to increase parallelism, throughput, and overall SSD performance.
• Reduce latency and improve firmware execution efficiency.
• Optimize DRAM and SRAM utilization.
• Develop strategies to reduce Write Amplification and improve NAND endurance.
• Develop and analyze FTL traces, firmware logs, and performance data for profiling and root-cause analysis.
• Perform stress testing, mixed-workload testing, power-failure testing, and corner-case validation.
• Diagnose complex firmware, hardware, and system-level issues.
• Partner closely with Validation, Hardware, ASIC, and other engineering teams to resolve cross-functional technical challenges and improve overall system robustness.

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a closely related technical discipline.
• 3+ years of relevant professional experience in firmware or software applications engineering.
• Experience with SSD controller and/or firmware architecture.
• Strong programming experience with C/C++, data structures, and low-level embedded development.
• Experience working with JTAG and/or ICE debugging tools.
• Experience using version-control systems such as Git.
• Strong debugging, analytical, and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to work independently with limited day-to-day supervision while collaborating effectively within a small engineering team.
• Ability to quickly learn new technologies and execute in a fast-paced technical environment.
• Strong written, verbal, presentation, and technical documentation skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience using logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, and bus protocol analyzers.
• Knowledge of PCIe/NVMe and/or SATA protocols.
• Familiarity with NAND flash architecture and protocols.
• Mandarin reading and writing proficiency is preferred.

Compensation

The estimated base salary range for this full-time position is $150,000–$210,000 annually.

Actual starting compensation will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, education, qualifications, work location, and prevailing market conditions. The compensation range may be adjusted based on business and market considerations.

Benefits & Rewards

The organization offers a comprehensive compensation and benefits package designed to recognize performance and support employees and their families, including:

• Competitive base compensation
• Annual merit increases
• Year-end bonus opportunities
• RSU eligibility for qualifying employees
• Invention and patent recognition awards
• 401(k) employer matching
• Length-of-service recognition
• Comprehensive medical and health insurance options for eligible employees and dependents

Our client is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, religious creed, ancestry, national origin, citizenship status, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, medical condition, genetic information, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. Qualified applicants with disabilities are encouraged to apply. Reasonable accommodations are available during the application and interview process in accordance with applicable law.

Qualified applicants with criminal histories will be considered for employment in accordance with the California Fair Chance Act and other applicable federal, state, and local laws.