Firmware Engineer Intern, MS - Summer 2027 - Santa Clara, CA, United States
Originally posted 5 September 2026 by the employer.
About the role
This internship involves developing and maintaining embedded firmware for advanced hardware platforms and contributing to the full product lifecycle, from concept to release.
What you'll do
- Develop and maintain embedded firmware for advanced hardware platforms, including data center, AI devices, SSD controllers, DSP networking chips, and high-speed PAM4 DSPs.
- Design and implement device drivers and firmware features for communication protocols (SPI, I2C, I3C, UART, MDIO, PCIe, NVMe) and RTOS-based systems.
- Participate in full product lifecycle: concept, design, implementation, testing, validation, and release to customers.
- Create and enhance automation scripts (Python, shell, bash) for testing, failure analysis workflows, and infrastructure management.
- Develop provisioning software and trusted firmware stacks to enable advanced security features for SoCs, including cryptography and secure protocols (TLS/SSL, IPSec).
- Debug complex hardware/software issues, drive root cause analysis, and manage fixes through issue tracking systems (e.g., Jira).
What you'll need
- Currently enrolled in a MASTER'S Degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field with an expected graduation date between Fall 2027 and Summer 2028.
- Proficiency in Python and/or C.
- Comfortable working in Windows or Linux-based development environments.
- Understanding of computer architecture, networking fundamentals (OSI model, TCP/IP), and/or embedded systems.
- Knowledge or experience with Git, GitHub, or Gerrit.
- Knowledge or experience with Linux, Makefiles, GDB, IDEs, and bash scripting.
This role has been open 26 days — well below the 58-day median for Embedded Firmware Engineering roles.
Embedded Firmware Engineering · Systems Software
|
Open roles in category
724
|
Median days open
58 d
|
Median salary
$172k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Marvell Technology | All employers we track in this specialty (724 roles · 79 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 21 | 724 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 49 | 5975 · 145 employers |
| Median days open | 118 d | 58 d (+60 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $172k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 121 open roles · median 63 d
- Micron Technology · 62 open roles · median 78 d
- NVIDIA · 59 open roles · median 55 d
- AMD · 55 open roles · median 30 d
- Lattice Semiconductor · 43 open roles · median 22 d
- NXP Semiconductors · 27 open roles · median 70 d
How we counted: 724 open Embedded Firmware Engineering (Systems Software) roles from 79 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 1 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.