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careers@nuvacore.aiCPU Firmware Development Lead
Full-time • US I Canada / UK / India or Hybrid • SW + Tech Lead
Nuvacore is building ground-up CPU silicon for next-generation compute workloads. We are seeking an experienced technical leader to head our CPU Firmware Development organization, responsible for the architecture, development, and delivery of low-level firmware enabling next-generation processor platforms. This role leads a team developing firmware that executes before the operating system and controls the initialization, configuration, and security of CPU and platform hardware, including early boot, microcode interactions, platform bring-up, and system management capabilities. You will work at the intersection of CPU architecture, silicon design, system software, operating systems, and platform hardware.
THE ROLE
Technical Leadership
- Define and drive the firmware architecture for next-generation CPU platforms.
- Lead development of low-level firmware enabling processor initialization, platform configuration, power/performance management, DVFS and runtime services.
- Oversee development of boot firmware components, such as: early CPU initialization, memory controller and DRAM training, platform initialization flows, secure boot and root-of-trust mechanisms, runtime firmware services
- Enable first-silicon bring-up and platform validation through firmware development and debugging.
- Diagnose complex hardware/firmware interactions across CPU, memory, and I/O subsystems.
Firmware Architecture & Security
- Design secure and reliable boot chains, root-of-trust mechanisms, and firmware update capabilities.
- Ensure compliance with platform standards such as UEFI and ACPI.
Team Leadership
- Build, lead, and mentor a high-performance firmware engineering team.
- Establish development processes, technical direction, and delivery milestones.
- Collaborate with hardware, OS, validation, and security teams globally.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Partner with CPU architecture, silicon design, design verification, platform hardware, OS, kernel and security teams to enable new processor features and deliver complete platform solutions.
WHAT YOU’LL OWN
- Software and firmware architecture for embedded CPU firmware, which includes initialization and configuration of CPU and memory subsystems, secure boot and root-of-trust mechanisms, and runtime firmware services that handle security, power, performance and operating system interactions
- Prototyping and production level quality firmware readiness for next generation CPU core designs
- Point-of-contact for CPU firmware roadmaps, software design, CPU/SoC/platform software-hardware interactions, bring-ups, and CPU architectural enablement
REQUIREMENTS — MUST HAVE
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or Computer Science with 15+ years of experience in low-level firmware or embedded software development and 5+ years managing firmware or system software teams.
- Deep expertise in:
- C/C++ and low-level programming (close to the metal)
- CPU architecture (x86, ARM, RISC-V, or similar)
- Boot firmware and initialization flows
- Hardware/software interaction and debugging
- Embedded or firmware development environments
- Hands-on experience in full life-cycle of embedded silicon firmware design, development, prototyping, bring-up, debugging, field deployment, customer workload interaction, field issue debugging and product EOL
- Extensive experience with CPU power management, limits management and DVFS
- Proven ability to write embedded firmware using current industry toolchains and interaction with open-source repositories, and tools such as Git, GitHub/GitLab, LLVM, GCC, JTAG debuggers, hardware emulators, software simulators, instruction-level trace systems and on-chip telemetry infrastructure
- Deep Linux experience including kernel modules, kernel boot process, process and thread scheduling, virtual memory, paging, interrupts/exception handling, system calls, synchronization primitives (spinlocks, mutexes, RCU)
- Experience in x86, ARM64, or RISC-V ISA; ability to read and analyze compiler-generated and hand-written assembly.
- Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical designs clearly — written reports, presentations, and verbal briefings to diverse audiences including engineering leadership.
REQUIREMENTS — nice to HAVE
- Experience with one or more firmware frameworks:
- UEFI / EDK II
- Coreboot
- Proprietary SoC firmware environments
- Expertise in platform security technologies:
- Trusted execution
- Secure boot
- Firmware update infrastructure
- Hands-on direct experience with server, client, or mobile CPU platforms
- Prior principal-level role at a CPU or SoC firmware developer at a semiconductor company.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
- Successful bring-up of new silicon generations.
- High-quality firmware releases enabling OS and hypervisor platforms.
- Robust firmware security and field update mechanisms.
- A high-performance firmware engineering team delivering predictable schedules.