Senior Embedded Firmware Design Engineer

Job Title

Senior Embedded Firmware Design Engineer

Role Summary

Design, develop and validate embedded firmware for low-power mixed-signal sensing SoCs in the Sensing Product Group. Work with system, digital hardware, analog, verification and cross-functional teams to define chip and firmware architectures and drive pre- and post-silicon validation.

Role is based in San Diego (hybrid: 4 days in office, Friday remote) and includes technical leadership and mentoring responsibilities.

Experience Level

Senior — typically 8–10 years of industry experience in embedded firmware for mixed-signal integrated circuits (as stated in the posting).

Responsibilities

Primary duties include firmware architecture, development, validation, and support across product lifecycle.

• Define, develop, verify and optimize embedded firmware from specification to production for low-power mixed-signal circuits.
• Develop and deploy rule-based and ML-based inference firmware; leverage AI-assisted development tools and workflows.
• Implement testability and diagnostic features to support hardware testing and production.
• Lead pre-silicon simulation validation, unit/regression testing, debug, emulation and FPGA prototyping.
• Specify system-level and hardware-firmware architectures; evaluate CPU/microcontroller selection and memory sizing.
• Support silicon lab evaluation, performance characterization, post-silicon debug, customer support and RMA analysis.
• Mentor and supervise junior engineers and provide technical guidance to test, product and application teams.

Requirements

Key technical and professional requirements. Education is summarized separately below.

Must have:

• Proven experience developing firmware for mixed-signal ICs and HW–SW co-design; strong systems thinking (power, speed, memory trade-offs).
• Experience with MCU-based systems and architectures (ARM, RISC-V, PIC, STM32) and bare-metal firmware development.
• Proficiency in C/C++ and assembly; scripting with Python; familiarity with embedded IDEs and debugging toolchains.
• Experience with testability, diagnostics, version control, release management, integration, and unit/regression testing.
• Knowledge of data path, signal processing, algorithms, and system-level aspects of mixed-signal designs.
• Familiarity with standard hardware protocols (I2C, I3C, SPI, MIPI, JTAG, PCIe) and hands-on use of dev boards, FPGAs and lab equipment (logic analyzers, scopes, meters).
• Demonstrated technical leadership, strong problem-solving, and effective verbal and written communication skills.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with system/digital design tools and languages (Matlab, SystemVerilog/Verilog/VHDL).
• Experience in consumer, industrial, or automotive product development.

Education Requirements

B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering (specified). No explicit equivalent-experience language provided.

About the Company

Company: Semtech

Headquarters: Camarillo, California, USA

Semtech Corporation is a high-performance semiconductor company providing IoT systems and Cloud connectivity solutions. The company focuses on delivering innovative technology solutions that support a smarter, more connected, and sustainable planet, with a dedication to quality across infrastructure, industrial, and consumer markets.