Senior NVMe Firmware Engineer – SSD/PCIe Expert

VeeRteq Solutions Inc.; Rancho Cordova (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

401(k) - Employer Match

Job summary

VeeRteq Solutions Inc. seeks a Senior Firmware Engineer to design and maintain the NVMe protocol stack and PCIe Gen5 interfaces in a high-performance SSD environment.

You will implement SMBus and I3C communication, handle command processing, and ensure protocol compliance while collaborating with validation teams on stress and corner-case testing. Onsite in Rancho Cordova, CA, with visa/relocation on case-by-case basis.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in SSD controller/firmware development.
• Strong C/C++ programming and data structures experience in embedded software/firmware development.
• Hands-on experience with NVMe command processing, Submission/Completion Queues, PCIe Gen5, and NVMe protocol compliance.
• Strong experience with SMBus and/or I3C protocols, including command handling, data transfer, error detection, and recovery.
• Hands-on experience with firmware debugging and validation using JTAG/ICE debuggers, protocol analyzers, logic analyzers, and firmware logs.

Responsibilities

• Design and maintain the NVMe protocol stack, including Admin and I/O command processing, and Submission/Completion Queue management.
• Ensure full compliance with the latest NVMe specifications and PCIe Gen5 protocol requirements.
• Design and implement SMBus and I3C communication protocols, ensuring reliable and accurate data exchange with the host controller.
• Implement NVMe command parsing, data transfer mechanisms, and completion flows, supporting multi-namespace operations.
• Implement SMBus/I3C read/write commands and data flow, including status monitoring, temperature/voltage reporting, and control command handling.
• Implement proper status code reporting, Asynchronous Event Notification (AEN), and error recovery flows to ensure host compatibility.
• Handle timeout, abort, and reset scenarios to maintain system stability and minimize host impact.
• Design SMBus/I3C error detection and retry mechanisms to prevent transmission errors from causing system failures.
• Verify compatibility with industry-standard NVMe compliance tools and host platforms.
• Validate SMBus and I3C communication against JEDEC/MIPI specifications to ensure broad interoperability with different host systems and controllers.
• Capture and analyze PCIe/NVMe transactions using protocol analyzers, logic analyzers, and firmware logs.
• Monitor SMBus/I3C transfers, analyze timing and error conditions, and ensure firmware implementation is stable and reliable.
• Collaborate with validation teams to execute compliance, stress, and corner-case tests, including hot-plug, power management, error injection, and multi-protocol concurrency tests.
• Provide root-cause analysis and implement fixes for protocol-related issues found during validation or in customer systems.

Skills

SSD controller

C/C++

NVMe protocol

SMBus/I3C

Firmware debugging

Education

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

Tools

JTAG/ICE debuggers

Git

Protocol analyzers

Logic analyzers

PCIe Gen5 knowledge

Job description

VeeRteq Solutions Inc. seeks a Senior Firmware Engineer to design and maintain the NVMe protocol stack and PCIe Gen5 interfaces in a high-performance SSD environment.

You will implement SMBus and I3C communication, handle command processing, and ensure protocol compliance while collaborating with validation teams on stress and corner-case testing. Onsite in Rancho Cordova, CA, with visa/relocation on case-by-case basis.