Security Architect - Santa Clara, CA, United States
$200,000 - $500,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 27 July 2026 by the employer.
Architect the end-to-end security of Physical AI System-on-Chip (SoC) platforms.
About the role
As Security Architect for Velaura AI's Physical AI System-on-Chip (SoC), you will own the end-to-end security architecture of silicon platforms.
What you'll do
- Own the SoC security architecture: define the hardware root of trust, secure boot, key management, secure debug, and lifecycle/provisioning strategy.
- Architect protection for AI workloads and sensitive assets on-chip, including model confidentiality and integrity, secure AI/NPU execution, memory isolation, trusted execution environments, and cryptographic acceleration.
- Lead threat modeling and security risk assessments for the SoC and its subsystems, translating attacker capabilities into hardware and firmware requirements.
- Partner with silicon design, firmware, safety, and platform software teams to embed security requirements into the RTL, boot flow, and SDK.
- Define the approach to secure updates, attestation, and device identity for trustworthiness throughout operational lifetime.
- Establish security architecture standards, review processes, and design practices; mentor engineers.
What you'll need
- 10+ years in security engineering or architecture, with significant experience defining hardware/SoC security for shipping silicon or embedded platforms.
- Deep expertise in hardware security primitives: root of trust, secure boot, TEEs (e.g., TrustZone or equivalent), key management, secure debug, and hardware/software cryptographic implementations.
- Strong command of applied cryptography and of physical and side-channel attack classes (fault injection, power/EM analysis) and their countermeasures.
- Hands-on experience with SoC development flows and the interfaces between RTL/silicon design, firmware, and low-level platform software.
- Proven ability to lead threat modeling and to drive security requirements across multi-disciplinary teams from architecture through production.
- Master’s degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
Nice to have
- Experience securing AI/ML accelerators or NPUs, including protection of on-device models and inference pipelines.
- Familiarity with robotics, autonomous systems, automotive, or other safety-critical domains, and with functional-safety standards (e.g., ISO 26262) alongside security standards (e.g., ISO/SAE 21434, Common Criteria, FIPS 140-3, or PSA Certified).
- Experience with post-quantum cryptography, confidential computing, or hardware supply-chain security.
- Prior experience at an early-stage or high-growth semiconductor or hardware company, building security functions and practices from the ground up.
- Ph.D in Electrical/Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
Skills: SoC security architecture, hardware root of trust, secure boot, cryptographic acceleration, threat modeling, side-channel attacks
This role has been open 82 days — well above the 60-day median for Hardware Security Engineering roles.
Hardware Security Engineering · Hardware Security
|
Open roles in category
185
|
Median days open
60 d
|
Median salary
$224k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Velaura AI | All employers we track in this specialty (185 roles · 46 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 1 | 185 |
| Median days open | 82 d | 60 d (+22 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $224k |
Skills observed across this category: SoC security architecture, hardware root of trust, secure boot, cryptographic acceleration, threat modeling, side-channel attacks
Who's hiring in this category
- NVIDIA · 28 open roles · median 34 d
- NXP Semiconductors · 23 open roles · median 108 d
- Qualcomm · 17 open roles · median 122 d
- Arm Holdings · 13 open roles · median 102 d
- STMicroelectronics · 11 open roles · median 16 d
- AMD · 8 open roles · median 58 d
How we counted: 185 open Hardware Security Engineering (Hardware Security) roles from 46 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 18 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. Figures refresh nightly.