Hardware Security Analyst - Semiconductor IP

Job Title

Hardware Security Analyst - Semiconductor IP

Role Summary

Lead threat analysis and product cybersecurity activities for semiconductor IP and associated firmware. Work embedded within IP product teams to integrate security across planning, design, implementation, verification, and release.

Produce actionable integration guidance, verification objectives, and evidence that product and customer teams can follow without a security specialist present.

Experience Level

Mid-level - typically 4 or more years in product cybersecurity, embedded security, digital design, digital verification, or a closely related engineering role. Title may align to Analyst or Senior Analyst based on demonstrated depth.

Responsibilities

Provide threat analysis, guidance, and verification objectives that fit into agile product delivery.

• Lead threat modeling and threat analysis for semiconductor IP and firmware; identify assets, attack surfaces, attack paths, and recommend mitigations.
• Run security analysis across the cybersecurity lifecycle from planning through release.
• Advise product teams on cybersecurity requirements, architecture, and verification; translate analysis into executable requirements and verification objectives.
• Author customer-facing integration guidance describing threats, controls, and integrator responsibilities.
• Review RTL, architecture, and verification intent against secure-design principles and assess implementability and testability of controls.
• Support in-field activities: vulnerability assessment, incident analysis, and security advisories when required.
• Facilitate cross-team working sessions to keep analyses consistent across IP classes.
• Deliver incremental analysis in agile sprints and keep evidence current as designs change.
• Automate analysis tasks and reporting with Python and use agentic workflows to accelerate research and drafting while retaining human ownership of findings.
• Use Jira, Confluence, Git, and GitLab to track analysis, documentation, and reviews.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and practical experience.

• Typically 4+ years of practical experience in product cybersecurity, embedded security, digital design, or digital verification; demonstrated capability can offset exact years.
• Proven experience performing threat modeling or threat analysis on real products and producing actionable results.
• Ability to identify assets, attackers, attack surfaces and map attack paths to mitigations (in-product controls or integrator requirements).
• Hands-on understanding of embedded systems: SoC/MCU integration, firmware, HW/SW interfaces, memory-mapped registers, boot/debug, and on-chip interconnects.
• Hands-on experience as a digital designer or digital verification engineer; ability to read and discuss RTL (Verilog/SystemVerilog/VHDL), architecture, interfaces, and register maps.
• Experience applying a cybersecurity lifecycle across planning, requirements, design, implementation, verification, and release.
• Ability to translate threat analysis into requirements, design guidance, verification objectives, and release evidence.
• Proficiency writing and maintaining Python scripts for analysis and automation (readable and reusable by other analysts).
• Experience with Jira, Confluence, Git, and GitLab (or equivalent) for tickets, documentation, and review.
• Clear written and spoken English and ability to lead technical sessions with distributed teams.

Nice-to-have:

• Familiarity with ISO/SAE 21434 or comparable product-cybersecurity standards, analog/mixed-signal experience, vulnerability handling, or applied embedded cryptography.
• Practical experience using AI agents and agentic workflows to speed research and drafting while retaining human ownership of conclusions.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience. Advanced degree is welcome but not required.

About the Company

Company: Synopsys

Headquarters: Mountain View, California, USA

Synopsys is a leading company in electronic design automation (EDA) and semiconductor IP solutions. It provides tools and services for designing and verifying complex semiconductor devices and systems. The company plays a pivotal role in the semiconductor industry, helping engineers innovate and deliver higher-quality products faster. Synopsys is committed to advancing technology standards and offers a range of software and hardware solutions to its clients globally.