Director, Embedded Software Engineering (AI2558) - San Jose, California, United States
$231,100 - $358,200 USD yearly
Originally posted 7 October 2026 by the employer.
Focus on embedded software for the MLSoC™ product line.
About the role
This role involves leading the US embedded software team, owning the technical direction and delivery of Board Support Package (BSP) and platform software for SiMa.ai's MLSoC™ product line. The team develops and supports the OS, boot software, device drivers, and run-time environment for multiple subsystems, and builds embedded Linux applications and APIs for end-to-end applications across the MLSoC's IO subsystems.
What you'll do
- Own the roadmap, schedule, quality, and release of MLSoC SDK features, including OS, boot software, device drivers, run-time environment, and embedded Linux applications.
- Contribute hands-on to architecture, design, and code review, and debug work in U-Boot, firmware, secure boot, Linux, and interface libraries.
- Set technical direction for secure boot chain, firmware, U-Boot, eLxr/Debian builds, and Linux configurations on reference boards.
- Direct development of drivers for peripheral interfaces (PCIe, MIPI, USB, DDR, Ethernet, I2C, SPI, SDIO) and support Docker, hypervisor, and RTOS environments.
- Lead, hire, and develop the US embedded software team, manage headcount and budget, and report progress to leadership.
- Partner with silicon and hardware teams on pre-silicon verification using SoC emulators and post-silicon bring-up and troubleshooting.
What you'll need
- BS/MS in computer science, electrical engineering, or related field with a minimum of 15 years in embedded software.
- At least 5 years of people management/supervisory experience.
- Hands-on experience developing firmware, boot code, and software for high-performance 64-bit Arm processors.
- Hands-on experience with U-Boot, including porting, customization, and debugging.
- Hands-on experience with secure boot, including chain of trust, image signing and verification, and key management.
- Deep experience with Linux kernel and device driver development, including SPI, I2C, USB, PCIe, MIPI, Ethernet, and eMMC.
Nice to have
- Experience with embedded RTOS (e.g., QNX) in a product environment.
- Experience with hypervisors, including running and supporting guest operating systems on Arm.
- Experience with embedded Linux build systems (e.g., Yocto) and Debian Linux.
- Experience with Docker.
- Experience building on open source software frameworks and working with open source communities.
- Experience with SDKs for AI/ML accelerators or edge SoCs.
Skills: OS, boot software, device drivers, embedded Linux, U-Boot, secure boot
This role has been open 1 day — well below the 58-day median for Embedded Firmware Engineering roles.
Embedded Firmware Engineering · Systems Software
|
Open roles in category
725
|
Median days open
58 d
|
Median salary
$168k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | SiMa.ai | All employers we track in this specialty (725 roles · 80 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 1 | 725 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 8 | 6052 · 146 employers |
| Median days open | 1 d | 58 d (−57 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $168k |
Skills observed across this category: OS, boot software, device drivers, embedded Linux, U-Boot, secure boot
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 127 open roles · median 59 d
- Micron Technology · 61 open roles · median 99 d
- AMD · 59 open roles · median 31 d
- NVIDIA · 57 open roles · median 59 d
- Lattice Semiconductor · 41 open roles · median 30 d
- NXP Semiconductors · 29 open roles · median 78 d
How we counted: 725 open Embedded Firmware Engineering (Systems Software) roles from 80 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 9 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.