Firmware Intern - San Jose, United States
Originally posted 7 February 2026 by the employer.
About the role
As a Firmware Intern, you will help develop firmware for chips designed to run large AI models efficiently. You will work across the stack from low-level drivers, hardware interfaces, and system initialization code to integration with runtime libraries and model-execution frameworks.
What you'll do
- Develop firmware for AI inference chips, including low-level drivers, hardware interfaces, and system initialization code. - Integrate firmware with runtime libraries and model-execution frameworks to support high-throughput inference and training workloads. - Collaborate with hardware, architecture, and software teams to bring up new silicon and validate features. - Support real-world AI applications by focusing on hardware reliability and peak execution performance.
What you'll need
- Progress towards a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field. - Proficiency in C/C++ or Rust. - Strong fundamentals in data structures and algorithms. - Strong understanding of low-level software engineering. - Strong understanding of hardware/software co-design.
Nice to have
- Experience with Linux internals, kernel development, or driver debugging. - Experience with hardware diagnostics or interpreting hardware logs. - Exposure to server virtualization or CI/CD pipelines. - Experience with Rust or embedded development.
Skills: firmware development, low-level drivers, hardware interfaces, system initialization, C/C++, hardware/software co-design
This role has been open 219 days — well above the 55-day median for Embedded Firmware Engineering roles.
Embedded Firmware Engineering · Systems Software
|
Open roles in category
755
|
Median days open
55 d
|
Median salary
$169k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Etched | All employers we track in this specialty (755 roles · 85 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 5 | 755 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 42 | 6291 · 145 employers |
| Median days open | 219 d | 55 d (+164 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $169k |
Skills observed across this category: firmware development, low-level drivers, hardware interfaces, system initialization, C/C++, hardware/software co-design
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 125 open roles · median 52 d
- Micron Technology · 63 open roles · median 90 d
- AMD · 62 open roles · median 39 d
- NVIDIA · 56 open roles · median 59 d
- Lattice Semiconductor · 47 open roles · median 42 d
- NXP Semiconductors · 36 open roles · median 29 d
How we counted: 755 open Embedded Firmware Engineering (Systems Software) roles from 85 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 22 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.