Firmware Developer - San Jose, California, United States
Originally posted 15 September 2026 by the employer.
Altera is looking for a Firmware Developer to work on configuration and security features for Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA).
About the role
As a Firmware Developer, you will research, design, develop, and optimize firmware that enables the use of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA).
What you'll do
- Review product and hardware specifications, and write firmware design specifications.
- Use C and C++ to implement configuration and security features of FPGA devices.
- Write unit and system tests to validate firmware features.
- Use Emulator and/or FPGA Silicon to validate user flows.
- Collaborate with hardware and validation engineers on co-engineering and joint debugging of system-level issues.
What you'll need
- BS or MS degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Engineering Science, or Electrical Engineering.
- 5+ years C/C++ programming experience.
Nice to have
- Strong proficiency in C/C++, assembly, and debugging tools.
- Strong system-level debug skills.
- Good understanding and extensive experience with RTOS, device driver development.
- Good understanding of CPU architecture.
- Good understanding of production security and crypto.
- Experience on functional safety and FuSA compliance.
This role has been open 30 days — well below the 56-day median for Embedded Firmware Engineering roles.
Embedded Firmware Engineering · Systems Software
|
Open roles in category
723
|
Median days open
56 d
|
Median salary
$166k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Altera | All employers we track in this specialty (723 roles · 82 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 3 | 723 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 18 | 6148 · 145 employers |
| Median days open | 37 d | 56 d (−19 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $166k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 117 open roles · median 65 d
- Micron Technology · 61 open roles · median 83 d
- NVIDIA · 59 open roles · median 57 d
- AMD · 58 open roles · median 35 d
- Lattice Semiconductor · 43 open roles · median 36 d
- NXP Semiconductors · 28 open roles · median 42 d
How we counted: 723 open Embedded Firmware Engineering (Systems Software) roles from 82 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 15 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.