Principal FW/SW Engineer

Description

The company is publicly listed on NASDAQ and builds rack-scale AI infrastructure using purpose-built connectivity. It works with hyperscalers and ecosystem partners.

Its Intelligent Connectivity Platform combines CXL, Ethernet, NVLink, PCIe, and UALink semiconductor technologies with its COSMOS software suite to deliver scale-up and scale-out connectivity. Its custom connectivity business complements its standards-based products, letting customers deploy tailored architectures.

This principal role sits in the Signal Connectivity Engineering team and shapes firmware and software that makes connectivity products adaptive, reliable, and ready for production. You will own embedded software across analog connectivity and Ethernet retimer platforms, from hardware abstraction and calibration through link management, diagnostics, validation, and customer deployment.

The work spans architecture, lab debug, automation, and customer integration. You will collaborate with silicon, analog, systems, validation, and applications teams on connectivity for rack-scale AI infrastructure as the company grows.

Responsibilities

• Own the embedded firmware from hardware abstraction and device drivers up through management interfaces, diagnostics, and customer APIs.
• Build firmware for equalization, gain control, calibration, link training, PLL and CDR feedback, thermal handling, and telemetry.
• Design control logic, state machines, and tuning procedures that keep analog and high-speed interfaces stable across process, voltage, and temperature changes.
• Set software quality gates, validation criteria, and release practices from pre-silicon work through production.
• Debug firmware on Ethernet links, link states, and failures by tracing behavior across the PHY, SERDES, FEC/PCS, MAC, retimer, and gearbox layers.
• Examine register access, embedded SDK behavior, state machines, PHY telemetry, logs, and hardware measurements to find root causes and ship targeted fixes.
• Work with system validation to write test plans, automate characterization, and check firmware across corner cases and configurations.
• Support customer bring-up, field issue triage, and deployment readiness alongside applications, platform, and silicon teams.
• Set technical direction, lead architecture and tradeoff discussions, and weigh performance, code size, maintainability, and time to market.
• Act as the technical authority for mixed-signal firmware, analog control, Ethernet PHY debug, and hardware/software integration.
• Lead design reviews, code reviews, and difficult debug work across firmware, analog, silicon, systems, validation, and applications teams.
• Mentor engineers and help grow the team through hiring, onboarding, and development. A people management or senior technical lead path may open as the team grows.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• 8 to 12 years developing embedded firmware or software for resource-constrained systems, owning work from architecture through production.
• Strong embedded C and C++ skills, with deep knowledge of microcontroller architecture, memory-mapped peripherals, interrupt handling, and bare-metal firmware.
• Hands-on work with Ethernet or high-speed connectivity devices such as Layer 1 PHYs, SERDES, retimers, gearboxes, NICs, switches, or related systems.
• Solid grasp of physical-layer behavior, link state machines, register-level debug, and hardware/software integration.
• Experience with feedback systems, adaptive algorithms, and calibration or tuning of analog or mixed-signal subsystems.
• Proficiency in Microsoft-based development environments and Linux command-line tools, including GCC or Clang, Make, Bash, GDB, and Git.
• Clear written and verbal communication, systematic debugging, and the ability to work effectively in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment.
• Preferred: Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• Preferred: Python for test automation, debug tooling, data analysis, or lab workflows, plus hands-on experience with Jenkins and CI/CD infrastructure.
• Preferred: Familiarity with mixed-signal systems and analog signal paths, such as ADC/DAC interfaces, sensor readout, transimpedance amplifiers, transmit drivers, CTLE/DFE equalization, CDR/PLL circuits, or thermal control.
• Preferred: Experience with retimer or gearbox firmware, SDK/API development, optical modules or pluggable optics, high-speed copper, Ethernet PHY subsystems, FEC, PMA, or signal-integrity analysis.
• Preferred: Experience with lab equipment such as oscilloscopes, BERTs, and logic analyzers, plus FPGA emulation, pre-silicon validation, RTOS, device drivers, coroutines, mentoring, or recruiting.

Conditions

Full-time employment.

Occasional travel to the company's San Jose headquarters, about twice a year, for chip bring-up and project coordination.

Salary range is CAD $184,500 to CAD $205,000, depending on experience, level, and business need.

May be eligible for a discretionary bonus, incentives, and benefits.

Applicants from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply, including people of color, LGBTQ+ and non-binary people, veterans, parents, and people with disabilities.