Senior Firmware Engineer

Job title: Senior Firmware Engineer

Work Location: Rancho Cordova, CA Onsite

Job Responsibilities:

• Protocol Stack Design and Maintenance
• Design and maintain the NVMe protocol stack, including Admin and I/O command processing and Submission/Completion Queue management.
• Ensure full compliance with the latest NVMe specifications and PCIe Gen5 protocol requirements.
• Design and implement SMBus and I3C communication protocols, ensuring reliable and accurate data exchange with the host controller.

Command Processing and Flow Control

• Implement NVMe command parsing, data transfer mechanisms, and completion flows, supporting multi-namespace operations.
• Implement SMBI3C read/write commands and data flow, including status monitoring, temperature/voltage reporting, and control command handling.

Error Reporting and Recovery

• Implement proper status code reporting, Asynchronous Event Notification (AEN), and error recovery flows to ensure host compatibility.
• Handle timeout, abort, and reset scenarios to maintain system stability and minimize host impact.
• Design SMBI3C error detection and retry mechanisms to prevent transmission errors from causing system failures.

Compliance and Interoperability

• Verify compatibility with industry-standard NVMe compliance tools and host platforms.
• Validate SMBus and I3C communication against JEDEC/MIPI specifications to ensure broad interoperability with different host systems and controllers.

Debug and Validation

• Capture and analyze PCIe/NVMe transactions using protocol analyzers, logic analyzers, and firmware logs.
• Monitor SMBI3C transfers, analyze timing and error conditions, and ensure firmware implementation is stable and reliable.
• Collaborate with validation teams to execute compliance, stress, and corner-case tests, including hot-plug, power management, error injection, and multi-protocol concurrency tests.
• Provide root-cause analysis and implement fixes for protocol-related issues found during validation or in customer systems. 

Minimum Requirements:

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related fields.
• At least 3 years work experience in each of the following:
• Software/firmware applications engineering
• Experience in SSD controller/firmware architecture
• Strong experience in C/C++ programming and data structure
• Hands on experience with JTAG/ICE debuggers
• Experience with version control software like Git.
• Competent to work independently as well as in a small team collaboration environment.
• Must be willing to learn fast and execute as a team player.
• Good oral, written and presentation skills for communication and documentation.
• Ability to work independently with a minimum of day-to-day supervision.

Preferred Qualifications:

• The ability to operate a logic analyzer, oscilloscope and bus protocol analyzer is valuable.
• Familiar with SATA/PCIe (NVMe) protocols
• Familiar with NAND flash protocols
• Linux system debug experience.
• Fluency in reading and writing Mandarin is preferred.

The successful candidate’s starting base pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location and market conditions. The expected base pay range for this role may be modified based on market conditions.

• Highly competitive salaries differentiated by performance.
• Annual merit increases
• Year-end bonus
• RSU for eligible employees
• Invention and Patent Awards
• 401(k) Employer Matching
• Length of Service Awards
• We offer comprehensive health insurance plans for eligible employees and dependents. There are plans to meet your family''s needs.