Lead System Software Engineer Platform - Server Embedded Firmware

Job Title

Lead System Software Engineer Platform - Server Embedded Firmware

Role Summary

Design, implement, and validate microcontroller firmware and embedded manageability software for NVIDIA GPU server platforms. Work within the platform/system software team and collaborate with hardware, security, and BMC teams to meet server management and reliability requirements.

Experience Level

Senior-level. The posting specifies 12+ years of experience in low-level microcontroller firmware development.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include firmware design, bring-up, protocol implementation, and ensuring manageability across server subsystems.

• Design and implement microcontroller firmware for server platforms (focus on ARM M-class microcontrollers).
• Develop C/C++ features in an RTOS-optimized embedded environment (Zephyr or FreeRTOS).
• Perform firmware bring-up, debugging, performance analysis, and validation on target hardware.
• Implement register-based communication and DMTF-standard messaging protocols between BMC, GPUs, switches, memory, I/O expanders, sensors, and local peripherals.
• Design a portable microcontroller framework for multiple server management subsystems.
• Instrument code for test coverage, automate unit tests, and maintain test and quality reports (static analysis, coverage, load).
• Collaborate with security and hardware teams; influence hardware design and architecture reviews.
• Develop performance-optimized active monitoring solutions using standards such as MCTP, Redfish, SPDM, and PLDM.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience. Nice-to-have items listed separately.

• 12+ years of low-level microcontroller firmware development experience on embedded microcontrollers using Zephyr or FreeRTOS.
• Experience developing BMC and/or microcontroller firmware for managing CPU, GPU, network, and storage devices.
• Experience with embedded interfaces such as USB and I3C; familiarity with ARM IDEs, debuggers, logic/protocol analyzers, and oscilloscopes.
• Deep understanding of interrupt schemes, multithreading, DMA, memory management, and resource-constrained embedded environments.
• Strong embedded programming and scripting skills: C/C++, Bash, Python, Go, or similar.
• Ability to read and use hardware schematics, reference manuals, and datasheets for embedded development.
• Experience with server manageability protocols: MCTP, PLDM, SPDM, SMBus, and OCP recovery.
• Solid understanding of Linux fundamentals, distributions, packaging, upgrade mechanisms, and image building/deployment.

Nice to have:

• Hands-on experience implementing an MCTP stack in embedded environments or FPGA.
• Contributions to industry groups or open-source projects (Open Compute, OpenBMC, DMTF).
• Expertise in system software and platform security for x86/ARM rack or blade server systems.

Education Requirements

Bachelor of Science degree or higher in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience.

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.