Data Center AI Platform Firmware Engineer, Senior to Staff

Company:

Qualcomm Semiconductor Limited

Job Area:

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering

General Summary:

OVERVIEW

We are seeking a highly motivated Firmware Engineer to design, develop, debug, and validate low-level system software for next-generation AI rack, server,. This role bridges the gap between silicon, hardware platforms, and operating systems, enabling successful bring-up and deployment of complex ARM-based systems.

The ideal candidate will have strong expertise in ARM architecture, boot firmware, platform initialization, hardware bring-up, and system debugging, working closely with silicon, hardware, validation, and software teams across the entire product lifecycle.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Platform Firmware Development

• Design, develop, and maintain low-level firmware for ARM-based SoCs, servers, and accelerator platforms.
• Implement and optimize firmware components including:
  • Bootloaders (UEFI, EDK2, U-Boot)
  • DDR initialization and training
  • Security and Root-of-Trust features
  • Power management and thermal control
  • RAS (Reliability, Availability, Serviceability)
  • Platform monitoring and telemetry
• Develop firmware drivers for platform peripherals, sensors, GPIO, I2C, SPI, UART, PCIe, USB, Ethernet, and storage devices.

System Architecture

• Develop firmware solutions based on ARM architecture and standards.
• Participate in design and review of:
  • ARM Trusted Firmware (ATF/TF-A)
  • Secure Boot implementation
  • PSCI
  • ACPI
  • SMBIOS
  • Device Tree (FDT)
  • Exception handling and interrupt management (GIC)
• Optimize ARM firmware execution path for performance, reliability, and power efficiency.

Hardware Bring-Up & Validation

• Lead early silicon and board bring-up activities.
• Debug power-on failures and boot issues from first power application through OS loading.
• Work closely with hardware teams to:
  • Validate platform functionality
  • Analyze hardware/software interactions
  • Resolve timing, power, and initialization issues
• Develop validation plans and automate firmware test execution.

System Debugging & Root Cause Analysis

• Investigate complex firmware, hardware, and system-level failures.
• Analyze:
  • Boot failures
  • Memory initialization issues
  • PCIe enumeration problems
  • Security authentication failures
  • Performance bottlenecks
• Utilize JTAG, trace tools, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, crash dumps, and firmware logs for root-cause debugging.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with:
  • Silicon architecture teams
  • ASIC design engineers
  • Board design teams
  • BIOS and BMC developers
  • Linux kernel developers
  • Validation and manufacturing teams
• Drive issue resolution across global engineering organizations and ODM/JDM partners.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

BS/MS degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.

Technical Experience

• 10+ years of firmware or embedded software development experience.
• Expert-level proficiency in C programming.
• Strong understanding of computer architecture and hardware fundamentals.
• Experience with ARM Cortex-A, Neoverse, or custom ARM server-class processors.
• Strong knowledge of:
  • ARMv8/ARMv9 architecture
  • Memory management
  • MMU
  • Cache coherency
  • Interrupt architecture
  • Multi-core systems

Firmware Expertise

• Proven experience developing or debugging:
  • ARM Trusted Firmware (TF-A)
  • UEFI / EDK2
  • U-Boot
  • Secure Boot implementations
  • Trusted Execution Environment (TEE)
• Experience with ARM PSCI, GIC, SMMU, and Device Tree.
• Deep understanding of ARM server boot flow from ROM through OS handoff.

Platform Interfaces

Hands-on experience with:

• PCIe Gen4/Gen5/Gen6
• DDR4/DDR5/HBM memory subsystems
• I2C / SPI / UART
• SMBus
• BMC interfaces
• Ethernet Controllers
• NVMe and storage devices

Debug Skills

Experience using:

• JTAG debuggers
• Lauterbach
• Arm DS
• GDB
• Firmware trace infrastructure
• Hardware diagnostic equipment

Software Tools

• Git
• CI/CD environments
• Build systems
• Linux development environment
• Scripting languages such as Python, Bash, or Perl

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

Data Center & AI Systems

• Experience with AI accelerators, GPUs, or high-performance computing platforms.
• Familiarity with server platform architecture and hyperscale data center systems.
• Knowledge of CXL, PCIe fabric architectures, and coherent interconnect technologies.

Security

Experience implementing:

• ARM TrustZone
• Secure Boot
• Measured Boot
• Firmware authentication
• TPM integration
• Firmware update frameworks

Open Source Contributions

Contributions to:

• U-Boot
• EDK2
• Linux Kernel
• ARM Trusted Firmware

Manufacturing & Production Support

• Experience supporting EVT, DVT, PVT, and production ramp.
• Experience working with ODM and JDM partners.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 4+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
OR
Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 3+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
OR
PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 2+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.

• 2+ years of work experience with Programming Language such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.

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