Principal Pre-Silicon Firmware Lead

Description

Invent the future with us.

Ampere is a semiconductor design company for a new era, leading the future of computing with an innovative approach to CPU design focused on high-performance, energy efficient AIcompute.

As a pioneer in the new frontier of energy efficient high-performance computing, Ampere is part of the Softbank Group of companies driving sustainable computing for AI, Cloud, and edge applications.

Join us at Ampere and work alongside a passionate and growing team - we'd love to have you apply! 

About the role:

We are seeking a Principal Pre-Silicon Firmware Lead to architect and implement low-level software for our next-generation microcontrollers/ SoCs. You will bridge the gap between hardware architecture and final software delivery. You will own the pre-silicon development lifecycle—including driver development for CAN/CAN-FD/CAN XL stacks —using high-performance enterprise emulation environments and ensures hardware-software co-design that satisfiesstrict ISO 26262 safety and high-quality engineering frameworks up to ASIL-D.

What you'll achieve:

Technical Leadership & Hardware Co-Design

• Drive firmware architecture and technical roadmaps for in-house microcontroller/ SOCs.
• Align development milestoneswith SoC architecture, RTL design, verification, and post-silicon validation teams.
• Provide technical mentorshipand enforce rigorous coding standards (MISRA C/C++).
• Author comprehensive design specifications, firmware architecture documentation, and test strategies.
  
  

Pre-Silicon Validation & Emulation

• Develop early boot code, low-level drivers, and runtime firmware targeting pre-silicon environments.
• Lead virtual bring-up and hardware-software co-verification using both enterprise emulation platforms like Cadence Palladium/Synopsys ZeBu.
• Optimize firmware execution speed
• Debug complex, deep-silicon anomalies using JTAG/SWD debuggers, logic analysers, and internal emulator trace features.
  
  

Communication Drivers & Protocols

• Design, implement, and optimize highly robust peripheral drivers for CAN, CAN-FD, and CAN XL.
• Develop and maintain critical application layer protocols, featuring standard diagnostics (ISO 14229), network management, and heavy-duty diagnostic framing fault handling.
• Design, implement and Integrate communication driver stacks into industry standard layers (e.g., AUTOSAR MCAL interfaces).
• Deep knowledge of priority-based identifier arbitration, bit-stuffing mechanisms, and cyclical redundancy check (CRC) validation
  
  

Safety & Quality Compliance

• Enforce absolute compliance with ISO 26262 safety requirements.
• Participate in safety analyses (FMEA, root cause analysis) to ensure driver-level fault-handling routines are deterministic.
  
  

About you:

• Bachelor's degree with 8 years or Master's degree with 6 years of experience in embedded firmware development, specifically within the embedded semiconductor or safety-critical industry
• 3+ years acting as a Technical Lead or Principal Engineer guiding architectural decisions and mentoring engineering teams.
• Expert proficiency in Embedded C with strict adherence to MISRA guidelines.
• Deep knowledge of embedded MCU/SoC architectures, including ARM Cortex-M/R or multi-core safety architectures.
• Direct hands-on experience with hardware emulation platforms, specifically Cadence Palladiumand/or Synopsys ZeBu systems
• Authoritative understanding of industrial fieldbus architectures (ISO 11898 standard family), physical/data link layers, priority-based identifier arbitration, bit-stuffing mechanisms, and diagnostic implementations
• Proficient with professional embedded pipelines, including ARM compiler toolchains, JTAG debuggers (e.g., Lauterbach), and emulation control scripts
• Experience with ISO 26262 functional safety requirements up to ASIL-D
• Understanding of HSM/SHE concepts and secure boot requirements
• Experience building automated testing setups using Python and continuous integration tools (e.g., Jenkins)
  
  

What we'll offer:

At Ampere we believe in taking care of our employees and providing a competitive total rewards package that includes base pay, cash long-term incentive, and comprehensive benefits.

Benefits highlights include:

• Premium medical, dental, vision insurance, parental benefits includingcrechereimbursement, as well as a retirement plan,so thatyou can feel secure in your health,financial futureand child care during work.
• Generous paid time off policy so that you can embrace a healthy work-life balance
• Fully catered lunch in our office along with a variety of healthy snacks, energizing coffee or tea, and refreshing drinks to keep you fueled and focused throughout the day.
  
  

And thereismuch more than compensation and benefits. At Ampere, we foster an inclusive culture that empowers our employees to do more and grow more. We are excited to share more about our career opportunities with you through the interview process.

Ampere is an inclusive and equal opportunity employer and welcomes applicants from all backgrounds. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, citizenship, religion, age, veteran and/or military status, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, physical or mental disability, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law.