Sr. Staff Embedded Software Engineer - Security
Ambiq Micro, Inc.
Salary undisclosed
Need a reasonable accommodation to apply or interview? Contact us.
JobMinglr uses automated technology to recommend jobs based on profile information and job preferences. Match Score does not determine eligibility for a position, prevent a user from viewing or applying to a job, or make hiring decisions on behalf of an employer.
Description
Company Overview
Ambiq is on a mission to enable intelligence everywhere — powering the AI edge revolution with the world's lowest-power semiconductor solutions.
Built on our proprietary sub- and near-threshold technology, our chips deliver multi-fold improvements in energy efficiency without costly process scaling. Since 2010, we've shipped over 300 million units to customers building smarter wearables, medical devices, IoT products, and AI-powered edge applications.
Our cross-functional teams span design, research, development, production, marketing, sales, and operations across Austin, Hsinchu, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Singapore. We move fast, tackle hard problems, and create space for people to grow through complex, meaningful work that shapes the future of technology.
We're looking for self-motivated, creative problem-solvers who are eager to push technological limits and make a real impact in energy efficiency.
At Ambiq, we live by five values: Innovate. Collaborate. Focus. Learn. Achieve.
If that's you, join us — the intelligence everywhere revolution starts here.
This role will be on-site 5 days a week in NW Austin.
Scope
As a member of the team at Ambiq, a Sr. Staff Embedded Software Engineer (Security), will provide technical and team leadership in extending and supporting Ambiq’s Secure Bootrom/Bootloader and SDK for the Apollo SoC and emulation platforms.
This role will work within our global MCU software development team, closely with the architecture team and local MCU SoC design teams, focusing on MCU software development and testing.
A successful candidate should be team-oriented, fast-learning, result-driven, and self-motivated with an “always learning” mindset. He/She will have an inquiring spirit and be comfortable in a lab environment, working hands-on with bare metal hardware and debugging tools for embedded systems.
The candidate will be involved in maintaining and extending the Secure Boot ROM, Secure Bootloader, and security aspects of the SDK for Ambiq MCU products from concept through release.
Responsibilities
- Technical Leadership within the MCU Software team. Lead the technical planning, work assignments, and implementation for the new products and new features to be implemented by the MCU software team.
- As the team scales, there's a potential path to managing a small to mid-size team. The candidate is someone who's excited to grow into a player-coach role over time.
- Work with the teams, e.g., Design, Architecture, Verification, and Applications, to define and implement new security features from design to production.
- Participate in testing and verification of pre-silicon (via FPGA emulation), and post-silicon (first Silicon), and debug of issues found, focusing on Secure Bootrom and Bootloader and the hardware features supporting them.
- Integration and Testing of runtime cryptographic operations utilizing the embedded hardware accelerators.
- Work closely with the SQA and System Test team to help define and implement test cases for security deliverables to ensure full coverage.
- Work with other team members to implement the hardware abstraction layer (HAL) and board support package (BSP) of the SDK.
Qualifications
- BS/MS (EE, CE, or CS) with 8+ years of embedded projects utilizing both bare metal and RTOS systems/real-time environments.
- 3+ years of team management experience preferred
- Embedded Expertise: Strong knowledge of ARM architectures, RTOS, and low-level drivers (I2C, SPI, UART).
- Security Expertise: Experience with Secure Boot, PKI, encryption (AES, RSA, ECC), and embedded security (TrustZone, CryptoCell).
- Familiarity with debuggers (JTAG, Saleae), Git, and scripting languages (Python, Bash).
- Understanding of security implications for the embedded systems, and familiarity with IoT security concepts (TrustZone, CryptoCell, and secure boot)
- Expert-level proficiency in C, with C++ and object-oriented extensions.
- Strong proficiency in Python
- Use of gcc and Arm compilers and MCU IDEs from ARM, Keil, IAR, Eclipse or others
- Excellent problem-solving skills dealing with issues related to HW/SW debug, FPGA/Silicon testing
- Technical Leadership of projects utilizing CI/CD development and automated testing principles.
- Strong documentation skills, mentorship of junior engineers, and ability to work in cross-functional teams.
**Must be currently authorized to work in the United States for any employer.
About this role
Ambiq is seeking a senior embedded software engineer to lead security initiatives across its low-power MCU platform. You'd own the technical direction and team execution for the Secure Bootrom, Bootloader, and security features of the Apollo SoC, working from concept through production release. This is a hands-on role that combines deep embedded systems work—debugging bare metal code, testing across FPGA emulation and silicon, integrating cryptographic hardware accelerators—with growing leadership responsibilities. As the team scales, there's a clear path toward managing a small to mid-size group.
The ideal candidate brings 8+ years of embedded systems experience spanning bare metal and RTOS environments, with demonstrated expertise in ARM architectures, secure boot, PKI, and embedded cryptography (AES, RSA, ECC, TrustZone). You'll need expert C proficiency, strong Python skills, and hands-on familiarity with debuggers and MCU toolchains. Three or more years of team management experience is preferred. Beyond technical depth, you should be comfortable mentoring junior engineers, collaborating across design and architecture teams, and working in a lab environment with hardware and debugging tools.
This is a full-time, in-office role in NW Austin requiring five days per week on-site. You must be currently authorized to work in the United States.
This role's local market on JobMinglr
Pay for this role
The employer didn't post a pay range for this role. That usually means pay is set in negotiation, which favors whoever arrives with numbers. Check ranges on comparable Sr. Staff Embedded Software Engineer - Security postings in Austin, and analyze any offer before you accept it.
Before you apply, worth reading
How JobMinglr reads this job
Every listing here is scored against your profile before you apply: skills overlap, experience level, location and work arrangement, each weighted and explained. You see the score and the reasons, not just a list. How the matching works.