Staff Embedded Firmware & System Software Engineer — Platform Controller and SoC Stack

TYLsemi; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

TYLsemi in United States seeks a senior firmware engineer to design and maintain Zephyr-based platform firmware for management controllers. You will develop drivers, integrate subsystems, and create application-level services to turn silicon into a running platform.

The role demands deep RTOS experience on 32‑bit MCUs, strong PCIe and IOMMU knowledge, and the ability to translate hardware specs into robust software. You will debug complex issues with JTAG/ETM traces and memory interfaces.

Qualifications

• 8–10 years of embedded firmware and/or system software development in C, with exposure to modern C++ or Rust.
• RTOS experience on 32-bit microcontrollers (Arm Cortex‑M or RISCV) scheduling and ISR design.
• Driver development experience against a formal driver model including bus drivers and interrupts.
• System software fundamentals: virtual memory, DMA, cache coherency, kernel/userspace interface.
• Working knowledge of PCIe architecture: enumeration, config space, BARs, MSI/MSI-X.
• IOMMU fundamentals: translation, isolation, DMA failure modes.
• Ability to read hardware specs and translate to testable software.
• Applied AI/ML knowledge — Strong AI based coding.
• BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain Zephyr RTOS firmware for a platform management controller.
• Write and review drivers against Zephyr’s model — devicetree, Kconfig, init levels, and APIs.
• Bring up and debug PCIe links on first silicon — training, polarity, and speed negotiation.
• Develop PCIe host controller and endpoint drivers including MSIs and AER.
• Configure and validate IOMMU behavior and DMA remapping.
• Develop system software across boot and runtime path — bootloader to kernel drivers.
• Debug DMA correctness and end-to-end data movement.

Skills

Embedded firmware

C programming

Driver development

RTOS experience

System software fundamentals

PCIe knowledge

IOMMU understanding

Rigorous debugging

AI/ML coding

Rust knowledge

Education

BS/MS in Electrical Engineering / Computer Engineering / Computer Science

Tools

JTAG/SWD

ETM/ITM tracing

Logic analyzers

PCIe protocol analyzers

Job description

About the role

We are building the software stack that runs on next-generation silicon. Based on Zephyr-platform management controller responsible for secure boot, system software on the application processor — bootloader, kernel drivers, PCIe subsystem, and IOMMU configuration — that turns raw silicon into a platform an operating system can run on.

What you’ll do

Firmware and platform control

• Design, implement, and maintain Zephyr RTOS firmware for a platform management controllers, including device drivers, subsystem integration, and application-level services.
• Write and upstream-quality-review drivers against Zephyr’s driver model — devicetree bindings, Kconfig, init levels and priorities, struct device APIs.

System software and high-speed interconnect

• Bring up and debug PCIe links on first silicon — LTSSM progression, link training failures, lane reversal and polarity, equalization, speed and width negotiation.
• Implement and maintain PCIe host controller and endpoint drivers: enumeration, configuration space, BAR allocation, MSI/MSI-X interrupt routing, AER and error handling, ASPM and link power states.
• Configure and validate IOMMU behavior — address translation, DMA remapping, device isolation domains, page-table management, fault reporting and recovery.
• Develop system software across the boot and runtime path: bootloader, firmware-to-OS handoff, ACPI or device tree description, kernel drivers, and the DMA and memory-management interfaces they depend on.
• Debug DMA correctness and coherency problems end to end, from device transaction through translation to system memory.

Silicon and process

• Perform post-silicon bring-up: first-boot debug, clock and reset validation, bus enumeration, triage of RTL-versus-firmware ambiguity with design teams.
• Debug hard problems using JTAG/SWD, ETM/ITM trace, protocol analyzers, and logic analyzers — including intermittent, timing-dependent, and multi-master failures.

Required qualifications

• 8–10 years of professional embedded firmware and/or system software development in C, with meaningful exposure to modern C++ or Rust.
• Deep, hands‑on RTOS experience on 32‑bit microcontrollers (Arm Cortex‑M or RISCV) scheduling, priority assignment, ISR design, synchronization primitives, and the failure modes each one produces.
• Proven driver development experience against a formal driver model, including bus drivers and interrupt-driven peripherals.
• System software fundamentals : virtual memory and address translation, DMA and cache coherency, the kernel/users pace boundary, and how a platform gets from reset vector to a running OS.
• Working knowledge of PCIe architecture — enumeration, configuration space, BARs, MSI/MSI-X, and the transaction model — sufficient to debug why a device is not appearing or not moving data.
• Understanding of what an IOMMU is for and what it costs: translation, isolation, and the DMA failure modes that appear when it is misconfigured.
• Demonstrated ability to read a hardware specification or register map and translate it into correct, testable software without handholding.
• Applied AI/ML knowledge — Strong AI based coding.
• BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred qualifications

Strong candidates will have direct experience with several or some of the following.

• PCIe and interconnect
• IOMMU and virtualization
• System software
• RTOS and platform
• Peripherals and subsystems