Position OverviewWe are seeking a talented Firmware Engineer to join our engineering team. This role is focused on low-level firmware development for our novel LLM accelerator architecture. You will develop code for the firmware layer that directly controls our custom hybrid optical-electronic compute hardware, ensuring reliable operation and optimal performance.
LocationAustin, TX
Key ResponsibilitiesFirmware Development:
- Contributing to low-level firmware to orchestrate execution of LLM workloads across hardware accelerator components
- Contributing to system and board management of such a system
- Create debugging and profiling tools for firmware and hardware interaction
System Integration:
- Collaborate with hardware engineers to define software-hardware interfaces
- Optimize end-to-end performance from application layer to hardware execution
- Develop comprehensive testing and validation frameworks
- Create documentation and specifications for firmware interfaces
- Support customer integration and provide technical guidance
Qualifications- Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field
- Experience: 3-5 years of professional experience in firmware engineering, embedded systems, or low-level systems programming
- Programming: High proficiency in embedded C++ (essential), Python for tooling and automation
- Embedded Systems: Experience with embedded systems programming and hardware interfaces
- Systems Knowledge: Familiarity with computer architecture, memory hierarchies, and parallel computing concepts
- Hardware Interfaces: Experience with hardware communication protocols and register-level programming
Preferred Skills- Education: Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field
- Bus Protocols: Experience with lower speed peripheral busses (I2C/SPI/UART/CAN/LIN), Some experience with PCIe interfaces. Some experience with Ethernet interfaces.
- Embedded Processors: Experience with embedded processor architectures (ARM, RISC-V, or similar) and associated toolchains (strongly preferred)
- Virtual Platforms: Experience with early firmware development on virtual platforms and/or fast C simulators (preferred)
- Cross-Compilation: Hands-on experience with cross-compiler toolchains (preferred)
- Containerization: Experience with Docker containers for development and delivery (preferred)
- Parallel Debugging: Experience debugging parallel and asynchronous programs (strongly preferred)
- Real-Time Systems: Experience with bare metal programming and RTOS (FreeRTOS, Zephyr, or similar) (preferred)
- AI-Assisted Development: Experience with structured, human-supervised AI/agentic coding workflows (preferred)
- Multi-Node Systems: Experience with multi-node embedded systems, including inter-node communication and coordination (strongly preferred)
- Multi-Processor Systems: Experience with multi-processor systems, including IPC and shared memory coordination (preferred)
- Adaptive Firmware: Experience designing adaptive and retargetable firmware architectures (preferred)
- OTA Updates: Experience with over-the-air update systems for embedded devices (preferred)
- RTL Familiarity: Ability to read and understand RTL code for debugging and hardware-software co-design
- ML Hardware: Experience with AI/ML accelerators (GPUs, TPUs, FPGAs) and their programming models
- Performance Optimization: Experience with high-performance computing and low-latency system design
- Thermal/Power Management: Experience with thermal management and power optimization in embedded systems
- LLM Knowledge: Familiarity with Large Language Model architectures and their computational requirements (preferred)
- High Speed Protocols: Some familiarity or understand of AMBA, AXI, PCIe, on processors and ROCv1/2, Infiniband over networks
Technical Skills- Programming Languages: Embedded C++ (essential), Python, Assembly
- Bus Protocols: I2C, SPI, UART, or low-speed serial protocols. Ethernet familiarity.
- Embedded Processors: ARM Cortex-M/A, RISC-V, or similar; associated toolchains and debugging
- Embedded Platforms: Bare metal programming, FreeRTOS, Zephyr, or similar RTOS
- RTL & Verification: Verilog/SystemVerilog (reading comprehension), ModelSim, Questasim, or similar simulation tools (nice to have)
- Hardware Interfaces: Register-level programming, memory-mapped I/O.
- Driver Methodologies: Polling, Interrupt and DMA based hardware interactions
- Distributed Embedded: Inter-node communication, message passing, distributed state management (nice to have)
- Testing & QA: Unit testing frameworks, hardware-in-the-loop testing, integration testing
- CI/CD: Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or similar systems
- Development Tools: CMake, Git, Docker
- Debugging Tools: GDB, JTAG debuggers, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, hardware protocol analyzers
- Operating Systems: Posix/Linux (user-space tooling), embedded RTOS internals
Technical Environment- Languages: Embedded C++ (primary), Python for tooling, Assembly for low-level optimization
- Hardware Tools: JTAG debuggers, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, protocol analyzers
- Simulation: Simulators/Emulators for hardware-software co-verification
- Testing: Hardware-in-the-loop testing, automated regression suites, CI pipelines
- Focus Areas: Firmware development, HAL implementation, hardware-software co-design
BenefitsJoin a team that invests in your future and your well-being. At Neurophos, we offer:
- 100% coverage of base health plan premiums for you and your dependents, plus HSA contributions.
- Unlimited PTO. No rigid vacation banks, just a focus on delivery.
- 401(k) matching and stock option opportunities to ensure our success is your success.
- Full suite of voluntary benefits, including Dental, Vision, Life, Hospital, Critical Illness, and Accident insurance.
- Personalized Benefits. Choose the plans that fit your life and take the cash back for those that don't.
