K2 Space CorporationRemote
Senior Firmware Engineer, ASIC
United States of America
Full Time
3 weeks ago
$160,000 - $220,000 USD
No H1B
Key skills
Embedded firmware developmentCC++Assembly languageSoC bring-upBoard-level bring-upCPU architectures - ARMCPU architectures - RISC-VMemory systems - SRAMMemory systems - DRAMMemory systems - DDRInterruptsDMALow-power statesHardware/firmware debuggingJTAGLogic analyzersOscilloscopesTrace toolsRTOS integrationBare-metal environmentsBootloadersSecure bootDevice driversDMA enginesMemory controllersInterconnectsSerDesADC/DAC interfacesTimersGPIORTL simulationFPGA prototypingPCIeEthernetJESDHardware security modulesCryptographic acceleratorsRadiation-tolerant systemsAssemblyPrototypingCommunication
About this role
K2 Space Corporation is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, aiming to unlock unprecedented performance levels across various orbits. They are seeking a Senior Embedded Firmware Engineer to develop and enhance low-level embedded firmware for high-performance mixed-signal and digital SoCs, contributing to the bring-up, validation, and production readiness of custom silicon.
Responsibilities:
- Contribute to the design and implementation of embedded firmware architecture, including boot flows, HAL components, drivers, and system services
- Develop low‑level firmware in C/C++ (and assembly when required) for CPUs, DSPs, and microcontrollers within custom SoCs
- Implement and maintain bootloaders, secure boot flows, and early hardware initialization sequences
- Develop device drivers for on‑chip peripherals such as DMA engines, memory controllers, interconnects, SerDes, ADC/DAC interfaces, timers, and GPIO
- Participate in pre‑silicon firmware development and validation activities
- Support post‑silicon bring‑up, including power‑on sequencing, clock/reset initialization, memory bring‑up, and peripheral testing
- Debug hardware/firmware interactions using JTAG, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, trace tools, and custom debug instrumentation
- Collaborate with SoC architects and designers to refine register maps, memory maps, interrupt structures, DMA flows, and debug infrastructure
- Provide firmware input during design reviews and silicon development milestones
- Bring up and integrate RTOS or bare‑metal environments
- Support integration with higher‑level system software or application processors
- Implement robust error handling, logging, and recovery mechanisms
- Contribute to manufacturing test firmware, production firmware, and field diagnostics
- Help ensure long‑term maintainability and scalability of firmware across multiple SoC generations
Requirements:
- 5+ years of experience in embedded firmware development for SoCs or complex embedded systems
- Strong proficiency in C/C++ for embedded systems and a solid understanding of low‑level hardware interactions
- Hands‑on experience with SoC bring‑up or board‑level bring‑up
- Strong understanding of CPU architectures (ARM, RISC‑V, or similar), memory systems (SRAM, DRAM, DDR, caches), interrupts, DMA, and low‑power states
- Experience collaborating with ASIC/SoC design or hardware engineering teams
- Demonstrated ability to debug complex hardware/firmware issues
- Experience with secure boot, hardware security modules, or cryptographic accelerators
- Familiarity with pre‑silicon environments such as RTL simulation, emulation, or FPGA prototyping
- Experience with high‑speed interfaces (PCIe, Ethernet, JESD, SerDes)
- Background in satellite communication, networking, compute, automotive, or other high‑reliability systems
- Experience developing firmware for radiation‑tolerant or mission‑critical systems