Firmware & Diagnostics Architect

Job Title

Firmware & Diagnostics Architect

Role Summary

Lead the architecture, design, and evolution of platform firmware, diagnostics, telemetry, observability, validation, and automated recovery for high-performance computing and hardware-acceleration systems.

This is a cross-functional technical leadership role working with hardware, software, validation, manufacturing, and support teams to improve reliability, accelerate root-cause analysis, and reduce customer downtime.

Experience Level

Senior-level. See Education Requirements for the degree-to-years mapping that applies to this role.

Responsibilities

Deliver long-term firmware and diagnostics strategy and lead technical execution across product lifecycles.

• Architect firmware, diagnostics, telemetry, and health-monitoring frameworks for platform management and observability.
• Design scalable fault detection, automated recovery, and predictive health monitoring systems.
• Establish common diagnostic frameworks and platform-wide reliability/serviceability requirements.
• Drive board bring-up, system validation, manufacturing test, and field diagnostics strategies.
• Lead investigations and root-cause analysis across hardware, firmware, OS, and infrastructure components.
• Influence technical direction, conduct architecture reviews, mentor senior engineers, and represent architecture in executive and customer discussions.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience for successful performance in this role.

• Extensive experience (12+ years) in firmware, embedded systems, platform software, or hardware diagnostics.
• Proven experience architecting complex firmware or diagnostics solutions for large-scale hardware platforms.
• Strong C/C++ development experience for embedded systems.
• Deep understanding of system architecture, hardware/software interactions, and low-level debugging techniques.
• Experience with platform bring-up, system validation, hardware debugging, and failure analysis.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and technical leadership skills.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with Board Management Controllers (BMC), embedded Linux, PCIe, Ethernet, DDR, and other high-speed interfaces.
• Exposure to FPGA-based systems, telemetry/observability infrastructure, and automated validation/regression testing.
• Familiarity with manufacturing and field diagnostics, hardware emulation/prototyping, and performance/failure triage tools (JTAG, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes).
• Automation scripting experience (Python, Tcl, Bash, or similar).

Education Requirements

Degrees and years-of-experience mapping provided in the posting: BS with a minimum of 12 years' relevant experience, MS with a minimum of 10 years, or PhD with a minimum of 8 years. The posting did not specify required fields of study or certifications.

About the Company

Company: Cadence Design Systems

Headquarters: San Jose, California, USA

Cadence Design Systems is a global electronic design automation company that provides software, hardware, and intellectual property for designing advanced semiconductor chips. With over 25 years in the industry, Cadence is known for its innovative technology solutions and has been recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. The company is dedicated to solving complex technical challenges in order to enable customers to create revolutionary products and experiences.