Haystack
← Back to Jobs
Technology

Sr Firmware Engineer (FE)

CivicMinds RecruitmentRancho Cordova, CA🇺🇸United StatesPosted 14 Aug 2026

Quick Overview

Work Type
Hybrid
Level
Mid Senior

Job Description

Job Title: Senior Firmware Engineer(FE)

Job Location: Rancho Cordova, CA

Protocol Stack Design and Maintenance
  • Design and maintain the NVMe protocol stack, including Admin and I/O command processing, and Submission/Completion Queue management.
  • Ensure full compliance with the latest NVMe specifications and PCIe Gen5 protocol requirements.
  • Design and implement SMBus and I3C communication protocols, ensuring reliable and accurate data exchange with the host controller.

Command Processing and Flow Control
  • Implement NVMe command parsing, data transfer mechanisms, and completion flows, supporting multi-namespace operations.
  • Implement SMBI3C read/write commands and data flow, including status monitoring, temperature/voltage reporting, and control command handling.

Error Reporting and Recovery
  • Implement proper status code reporting, Asynchronous Event Notification (AEN), and error recovery flows to ensure host compatibility.
  • Handle timeout, abort, and reset scenarios to maintain system stability and minimize host impact.
  • Design SMBI3C error detection and retry mechanisms to prevent transmission errors from causing system failures.

Compliance and Interoperability
  • Verify compatibility with industry-standard NVMe compliance tools and host platforms.
  • Validate SMBus and I3C communication against JEDEC/MIPI specifications to ensure broad interoperability with different host systems and controllers.

Debug and Validation
  • Capture and analyze PCIe/NVMe transactions using protocol analyzers, logic analyzers, and firmware logs.
  • Monitor SMBI3C transfers, analyze timing and error conditions, and ensure firmware implementation is stable and reliable.
  • Collaborate with validation teams to execute compliance, stress, and corner-case tests, including hot-plug, power management, error injection, and multi-protocol concurrency tests.
  • Provide root-cause analysis and implement fixes for protocol-related issues found during validation or in customer systems.

Minimum Requirements/Qualifications:
  • Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related fields.
  • At least 3 years work experience in each of the following:
  • Software/firmware applications engineering
  • Experience in SSD controller/firmware architecture
  • Strong experience in C/C++ programming and data structure
  • Hands on experience with JTAG/ICE debuggers
  • Experience with version control software like Git.
  • Competent to work independently as well as in a small team collaboration environment.
  • Must be willing to learn fast and execute as a team player.
  • Good oral, written and presentation skills for communication and documentation.
  • Ability to work independently with a minimum of day-to-day supervision.

Preferred Qualifications:
  • The ability to operate logic analyzer, oscilloscope and bus protocol analyzer is valuable.
  • Familiar with SATA/PCIe (NVMe) protocols
  • Familiar with NAND flash protocols
  • Linux system debug experience.
  • Fluent in reading and writing Mandarin preferred.

Skills

Cordova
C++
Git

Similar jobs