Hardware Security Expert

Job Title

Hardware Security Expert

Role Summary

Design and lead hardware security architecture for SoC products, owning the hardware Root of Trust, secure boot, cryptographic IP integration, and key storage. Work closely with the security and certification teams to define requirements, perform vulnerability triage, and deliver RTL-level mitigations across pre-silicon and fielded products.

This is a hands-on role in a growing hardware security team based in Barcelona with a hybrid on-site/work-from-home cadence.

Experience Level

Mid-level — minimum 5 years industry experience in SoC or processor design and microarchitecture.

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities include:

• Define and lead the hardware security strategy and roadmap in collaboration with security and certification stakeholders.
• Own RoT design and SoC hardware security architecture, including secure boot, crypto IP integration, and secure key storage/provisioning.
• Lead triage, analysis and mitigation of hardware weaknesses and vulnerabilities in pre-silicon and fielded products.
• Translate high-level security requirements into RTL-level architectures, countermeasures, and microarchitectural mitigations.
• Ensure hardware products meet relevant public and private compliance and standards requirements.
• Maintain awareness of advances in silicon security, privilege boundaries and trust architectures and apply them to product designs.

Requirements

Education is listed separately under "Education Requirements." Below are required and desirable technical skills and experience.

Must-have:

• Minimum 5 years industry experience in design, microarchitecture, and development of SoCs or processors.
• Hands-on proficiency in SystemVerilog or Verilog with full-lifecycle ownership (design, verification, implementation) of complex blocks.
• Deep understanding of modern SoC security models, hardware Root of Trust concepts, secure boot, and hardware–software security boundaries.
• Knowledge of the RISC-V privileged architecture and its security-related extensions.
• Practical experience in hardware vulnerability research or low-level systems security, including hardware debug interfaces and physical/microarchitectural attack vectors.
• Experience with low-level programming in C and working knowledge of assembly language.
• Ability to produce clear, well-structured technical reports and document security findings.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a diverse team.

Highly desirable:

• Familiarity with open-source hardware projects such as Caliptra or OpenTitan.
• Experience with hardware security analysis techniques (fault injection, side-channel analysis) and countermeasures.
• Understanding of classical and post-quantum cryptography and implementing them with hardware defenses.
• Knowledge of computer arithmetic and linear algebra as applied to cryptographic primitives and hardware accelerators.
• Exposure to silicon bring-up environments, hardware validation workflows, or datacenter/AI deployment architectures.
• Familiarity with confidential computing, remote attestation, virtual machines and trusted execution environments.

Education Requirements

Master's or PhD in Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Microelectronics or a related field (explicitly listed as required).

About the Company

Company: Semidynamics

Headquarters: Barcelona, Spain

Semidynamics is a company specializing in infrastructure verification and automation solutions. They focus on optimizing resources and enhancing continuous integration processes in design verification. The team collaborates to maintain regression test infrastructure and develop efficient workflows.