Low-Level Software Engineer (OS-based), CPU Validation group

Job Title

Low-Level Software Engineer (OS-based), CPU Validation group

Role Summary

Work on Arm's OS verification team to validate that Arm CPUs can boot and run real operating systems and software. The role focuses on early software bring-up, test development, and debugging across software, firmware and hardware boundaries.

The team collaborates with software, hardware and architecture engineers to design and execute OS-based validation scenarios and report defects to ensure processor quality and stability.

Experience Level

Mid-level. The posting does not specify a years-of-experience range.

Responsibilities

Produce and execute OS-based validation tests, investigate failures, and communicate results to stakeholders.

• Develop OS-based validation test scenarios aligned to test plans and architecture specifications.
• Bring up and configure OS environments and test payloads on target platforms; run regression suites and analyze results.
• Debug and root-cause validation failures spanning software/OS and hardware; triage issues across HW, firmware, and software boundaries.
• Document defects with failure analysis, reproduction steps, logs, and supporting evidence; collaborate with development teams to resolve issues.
• Track validation status, identify coverage or quality gaps, and report risks and key findings to stakeholders.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and relevant practical experience for low-level software validation.

• Proven software development experience in C.
• Some knowledge of low-level assembler programming.
• Understanding of CPU architecture and micro-architecture features (caches, MMU, SMP, coherency, pipelines).
• Knowledge of operating system kernels and how they exploit hardware.
• Experience debugging complex failures across software and hardware boundaries.

Nice-to-have:

• Familiarity with the Arm instruction set architecture.
• Experience with scripting languages such as Python.
• Exposure to CPU verification or EDA tools.

Education Requirements

University degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science or Electronic Engineering (or related technical field). The posting explicitly allows equivalent practical experience in place of a university degree.

About the Company

Company: Arm

Headquarters: Cambridge, United Kingdom

ARM is a global leader in semiconductor and software design, driving innovation in computing technology. The company specializes in designing processors and systems that provide the essential building blocks for electronic devices. ARM's architecture is widely used in smartphones, servers, and IoT devices, and its collaborative culture fosters bold thinking, diversity, and high-impact benefits for its talented workforce.