Senior Firmware SW Engineer

<div class="content-intro"><p><span data-teams="true">Astera Labs (NASDAQ: ALAB) provides rack-scale AI infrastructure through purpose-built connectivity solutions. By collaborating with hyperscalers and ecosystem partners, Astera Labs enables organizations to unlock the full potential of modern AI. Astera Labs’ Intelligent Connectivity Platform integrates CXL®, Ethernet, NVLink, PCIe®, and UALink™ semiconductor-based technologies with the company’s COSMOS software suite to unify diverse components into cohesive, flexible systems that deliver end-to-end scale-up, and scale-out connectivity. The company’s custom connectivity solutions business complements its standards-based portfolio, enabling customers to deploy tailored architectures to meet their unique infrastructure requirements. Discover more at <a id="menurhut" class="fui-Link ___1q1shib f2hkw1w f3rmtva f1ewtqcl fyind8e f1k6fduh f1w7gpdv fk6fouc fjoy568 figsok6 f1s184ao f1mk8lai fnbmjn9 f1o700av f13mvf36 f1cmlufx f9n3di6 f1ids18y f1tx3yz7 f1deo86v f1eh06m1 f1iescvh fhgqx19 f1olyrje f1p93eir f1nev41a f1h8hb77 f1lqvz6u f10aw75t fsle3fq f17ae5zn" href="http://www.asteralabs.com/" target="_blank">www.asteralabs.com</a>.</span></p></div><h2 class="wnfdnti _1ibi0s35e _1ibi0s36a">The Role and Its Impact</h2>
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Our firmware team develops the embedded firmware that brings Astera Labs' compute connectivity silicon to life, from boot and initialization through link management, telemetry, error handling, and diagnostics. This firmware runs on the embedded processors inside our chips and ships in data centers powering AI infrastructure around the world. Beyond the firmware, the team also develops the COSMOS SDK, the software layer customers and internal teams use to configure, monitor, update, and debug our devices in their systems.</p>
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">We are looking for an experienced firmware engineer who enjoys working close to the hardware, owns features end to end, and is equally comfortable in a pre-silicon emulation environment and in the lab with real silicon. You understand the whole system, not just the chip: how our devices behave inside customer platforms, and how a customer requirement turns into firmware and SDK. You'll work alongside architects, design and verification engineers, validation teams, and our global firmware teams to take new products from early pre-silicon development through bring-up and into customer deployment.</p>
<h2 class="wnfdnti _1ibi0s35e _1ibi0s36a">What You'll Be Doing</h2>
<ul class="wnfdntf">
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Having fun! by being part of a very strong and cohesive group.</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Design, implement, and maintain real-time embedded firmware in C for high-performance connectivity</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Develop low-level drivers, initialization flows, interrupt handling, and control logic for complex hardware blocks</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Bring up and debug firmware in pre-silicon environments (emulation) ahead of tape-out, and on silicon after it arrives</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Work closely with architecture, design, and verification teams to define HW/FW interfaces and to resolve issues across the hardware/software boundary</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Triage and resolve firmware issues reported by validation, product applications, and customers</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Take part in design reviews and code reviews, and help improve our firmware quality, tooling, and development practices</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Develop and extend the company SDK, including APIs, device management, firmware update, telemetry, and diagnostics capabilities, and keep it aligned with firmware features</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Support customer requests and engagements together with product applications and field teams, analyze system-level use cases, and adjust firmware and SDK development to meet customer needs</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Collaborate with firmware teams across sites to deliver features on schedule</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="wnfdnti _1ibi0s35e _1ibi0s36a">What We're Looking For</h2>
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Required:</p>
<ul class="wnfdntf">
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">BSc/MSc in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">10+ years of hands-on experience as a firmware engineer</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Proven experience in embedded and real-time firmware development</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Strong programming skills in C on resource-constrained, bare-metal, or RTOS-based systems</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Solid understanding of processor architecture, memory-mapped registers, interrupts, and HW/SW interaction</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Strong debugging skills on real hardware using JTAG debuggers, logs, and register-level analysis</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Broad system-level understanding of how silicon, firmware, SDK, host software, and platform interact, with the ability to turn customer requirements into technical solutions</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">A team player with excellent communication skills who works well in a collaborative, cross-site environment</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Comfort with ambiguity and ownership in a fast-moving, high-growth company</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Advantage:</p>
<ul class="wnfdntf">
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Experience with pre-silicon emulation platforms such as Cadence Palladium or Synopsys ZeBu</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Knowledge of PCIe (link training, enumeration, configuration space, error handling)</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Experience developing SDKs, host-side libraries, or APIs (C/C++ or Python) that interface with embedded firmware</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Experience working directly with customers or supporting customer integration and field issues</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Experience with silicon bring-up of new SoCs</p>
</li>
<li class="wnfdnte _1ibi0s35c">
<p class="wnfdntu _1ibi0s3fd _1ibi0s3ce _1ibi0s3eg">Python scripting for test automation, debug, or data analysis</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p> </p><div class="content-conclusion"><p>We know that creativity and innovation happen more often when teams include diverse ideas, backgrounds, and experiences, and we actively encourage everyone with relevant experience to apply, including people of color, LGBTQ+ and non-binary people, veterans, parents, and individuals with disabilities.</p></div>