Formal Verification Engineer - Firmware

Job Title

Formal Verification Engineer - Firmware

Role Summary

The Formal Verification Engineer will apply formal methods to verify correctness, safety, and security properties of low-level firmware and hardware–firmware interfaces. The role works with firmware architects, software developers, and hardware teams to define specifications, model behavior, and close correctness gaps across boot, security, and runtime subsystems.

Experience Level

Mid-level. The posting requests 3+ years of relevant experience in formal verification of hardware, software, or embedded systems.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include formal modeling, verification, and analysis of critical firmware components and hardware–firmware interactions.

• Develop precise formal models and specifications for firmware behaviors (security protocols, memory management, boot sequencing).
• Apply Model Checking, Theorem Proving, Equivalence Checking, and related formal techniques to prove correctness and safety properties.
• Formally verify hardware–firmware interfaces: handshakes, MMIO/register accesses, and control flows.
• Create abstract hardware models (e.g., MMIO registers, state machines) needed for firmware verification.
• Analyze counterexamples from formal tools to identify root causes and propose fixes.
• Research and integrate new formal verification methods, tools, and algorithms to improve coverage and efficiency.

Requirements

Must-have skills and experience to perform effectively in this role.

• Must-have: 3+ years of relevant formal verification experience for hardware, software, or embedded systems.
• Must-have: Practical knowledge of Model Checking and/or Theorem Proving principles.
• Must-have: Strong proficiency in C/C++ and scripting languages such as Python (for firmware analysis and automation).
• Must-have: Direct experience verifying critical firmware components (e.g., Boot ROM/BIOS, security enclaves, power management, interrupt controllers).
• Must-have: Experience using SAT/SMT solvers, counterexample analysis, or related formal techniques in security-critical code.
• Nice-to-have: Experience with Abstract Interpretation, theorem provers, or advanced solver integrations.
• Nice-to-have: Background in hardware modeling for firmware verification and hardware–software co-verification.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. Ph.D. is listed as a plus. (The posting explicitly allows equivalent experience in lieu of degree.)

About the Company

Company: NVIDIA

Headquarters: Santa Clara, California, USA

NVIDIA is a global leader in accelerated computing, renowned for its innovative solutions in AI and digital twins that transform diverse industries. The company specializes in networking technologies, providing end-to-end InfiniBand and Ethernet solutions for servers and storage that optimize performance and scalability. NVIDIA serves sectors such as high-performance computing, enterprise data centers, and cloud computing, constantly reinventing its products and services to stay ahead in the market.