Firmware Engineer

About the Role

An innovative company at the intersection of cybersecurity, cryptography, and hardware is looking for a skilled Firmware Engineer to join its embedded systems team. You'll play a critical role in developing secure firmware for next-generation cryptographic hardware, focusing on performance, robustness, and post-quantum readiness.

This is a unique opportunity to work on real-world applications of cryptographic algorithms and embedded software in constrained environments such as smart cards, secure elements, and microcontrollers.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain firmware for secure embedded platforms
• Implement and integrate cryptographic algorithms (including post-quantum and classical) in resource-constrained environments
• Optimize low-level code for speed, memory, and energy efficiency
• Work closely with hardware teams to interface securely with custom IP blocks and cryptographic accelerators
• Write robust test suites and contribute to continuous integration of firmware codebases
• Participate in secure boot, secure update, and key provisioning workflows
• Collaborate with software security, hardware, and product teams across the lifecycle of secure devices

Required Skills & Experience

• Strong experience in embedded firmware development using C and assembly
• Deep understanding of low-level hardware interfaces (e.g., SPI, I2C, UART, GPIO)
• Experience with secure coding practices and familiarity with side-channel attack mitigations
• Knowledge of ARM Cortex-M, RISC-V, or similar embedded architectures
• Familiarity with cryptographic primitives and protocols
• Experience with build systems, version control, and debugging embedded targets
• Ability to work independently on technical deep dives and collaboratively across cross-functional teams

Desirable Qualifications

• Exposure to post-quantum cryptography implementations or standards (e.g., NIST PQC finalists)
• Experience working on secure enclaves, Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), or Hardware Security Modules (HSMs)
• Familiarity with certification processes such as FIPS, Common Criteria, or PSA Certified
• Proficiency in scripting (e.g., Python) for build automation and hardware testing
• Background in electronics or digital design (e.g., basic understanding of RTL, FPGA, or chip bring-up)

Darwin Recruitment is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.