Firmware Engineer – SerDes PHY (all levels)

Company:

Qualcomm Canada ULC

Job Area:

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering

General Summary:

As a leading technology innovator, Qualcomm pushes the boundaries of what's possible to enable next-generation experiences and drives digital transformation to help create a smarter, connected future for all.

As a Qualcomm Software Engineer, you will design, develop, create, modify, and validate embedded and cloud edge software, applications, and/or specialized utility programs that launch cutting-edge, world class products that meet and exceed customer needs.

Qualcomm Software Engineers collaborate with systems, hardware, architecture, test engineers, and other teams to design system-level software solutions and obtain information on performance requirements and interfaces. Replacement Position

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 6+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.

OR

Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 5+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.

OR

PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 4+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.

• 3+ years of work experience with Programming Language such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.

We’re building the world’s most advanced SerDes PHY for use in AI data centers and beyond. The Embedded Software / Firmware Team at Qualcomm develops critical embedded software that powers high-performance multi-standard Serializer/ Deserializer (SerDes) PHY IP used in next-generation data center, AI/ML, automotive, and compute applications.

Our SerDes IPs support standards such as PCIe, Ethernet, CXL, and are integrated into SoCs , ASICs , and chiplets built by leading semiconductor companies around the world.

The firmware team owns the full embedded software stack that controls the SerDes hardware, including low-level embedded firmware, customer-facing C SDKs, demo & automation scripts, and interactive tools.

As a key enabler of silicon bring-up, validation, and production deployment, we work closely with hardware, systems, DV, validation, and application teams across the product lifecycle—from early development to high-volume manufacturing.

We are looking for an experienced Firmware Engineer to lead firmware architecture, development, integration, and bring-up for our SerDes PHY portfolio. The ideal candidate has driven firmware definition, architecture, and development starting from the RTL/digital design phase with EDA tool/simulator integration, all the way through to the post-silicon phase with device-level bring-up and debug.

This is a highly collaborative role: you will work with hardware, systems, and software teams to drive requirements and successful chip bring-up; with firmware and embedded software engineers to drive code re-use across the organization; and with program managers to identify and meet deadlines.

This individual will be instrumental in building next-generation SERDES PHY IP and semiconductors that meet Qualcomm’s high performance and quality standards.

What You Can Expect

Core responsibilities for the firmware team include:

• Embedded firmware running on RISC-V-based controllers that manage Qualcomm’s advanced SerDes datapaths
• Python and C SDKs provided to internal SoC teams and external customers for SerDes bring-up, calibration, tuning, and diagnostics
• Python-based lab tools and GUIs for interactive debug, register access, and validation
• Build, regression, and CI infrastructure to ensure code quality and full coverage.
• Y ou’ll play a key leadership role in delivering robust, production-quality firmware for SerDes PHY IP. You’ll help define architecture, drive features end-to-end, coordinate across cross-functional teams, and directly influence the design and usability of Qualcomm’s designs .

In this position, you will be:

• Technical or project lead for SerDes firmware on a major IP program, working with a team (2–8 engineers) through planning, development, validation, and customer delivery
• Owning the entire firmware lifecycle for SerDes PHY, from pre-silicon design through post-silicon validation and optimization
• Gathering requirements, studying high-level designs, developing device interface functions, and turning small building blocks into higher-level firmware system design
• Architecting and implementing embedded C/C++ firmware for hardware calibration, training algorithms, DSP adaptations, and link state management
• Working with multi-functional teams — ASIC/digital design, digital verification, software, and systems engineering — to define detailed bring-up and validation requirements and meet performance goals
• Communicating requirements and coordinating execution across multiple teams and sites
• Translating bring-up and validation requirements into efficient C/C++ firmware code and well-structured software organization
• Translating protocol specifications (e.g. PCIe, Ethernet, CXL, UCIe) or custom system-level requirements into internal firmware architecture and documentation
• Developing test and debug capabilities that help guide hardware design decisions for future product iterations
• Debugging complex lab and field issues in conjunction with hardware, applications, and validation teams, and driving low-level SW, silicon, and HW issues to root cause and closure
• Driving multi-functional teams and partners to address integration and bring-up challenges, ensuring chips are seamlessly brought up, validated, tested, and meet product and business requirements
• Planning and developing test cases that improve reliability and release quality for internal and external stakeholders, and ensuring they run continuously in regression
• Working with external vendors and customers to ensure requirements are met and releases are of high quality
• Driving and collaborating across functions to define FW milestones, plan sprints, close tickets, and deliver reliable, high-quality features
• Implementing industry best practices and documenting firmware and hardware design specifications and decisions
• Mentoring junior engineers, promoting team building, and driving continuous improvement in processes and techniques
• Demonstrating full ownership of assigned systems/components, managing timelines and resolving project challenges to meet program timing
• Staying current with advancements in the semiconductor industry and incorporating relevant innovations into our processes
• Supporting development and silicon bring-up across Qualcomm teams and other sites

Example Problems You’ll Solve

• Mentoring a junior engineer through a hard-to-reproduce PHY calibration bug seen in customer silicon
• Developing architecture and state machines to handle multi-lane synchronization or adaptive equalization across dynamic conditions
• Porting a high-level MATLAB or Python SerDes calibration algorithm to optimized fixed-point firmware
• Creating a SerDes diagnostics framework accessible via both SDK and GUI
• Using simulation environments, EDA tool integration, and FPGA emulation to validate FW behavior before tapeout
• Building error monitoring and board/interface configuration APIs that make link health observable to SoC software teams
• Standing up a regression suite that catches link-training regressions before a customer release ships
• Working with IP hardware architects to influence future revisions based on field debug learnings

What We’re Looking For

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field
• 7+ years of experience in embedded C/C++ firmware development for hardware IP or SoCs, with strong proficiency in C/C++ and Python
• Hands-on experience with embedded architectures such as ARM, RISC-V, or MIPS, and with