Senior Firmware Engineer (Senior–Senior Principal, IC)

Overview

Astera Labs is seeking Firmware Engineers across multiple seniority levels to architect, develop, and deliver core firmware for our next-generation connectivity, chiplet, and system products. This is a catch-all requisition designed to hire exceptional firmware talent aligned to one or more critical technical domains across PCIe/CXL, Ethernet, UALink, UCIe/Chiplet, and Device Driver development.

Firmware is a core differentiator for Astera Labs’ products and is treated as a first-class engineering discipline, on par with hardware and silicon design. Engineers in this role will work closely with Architecture, RTL, Physical Design, Validation, and Systems teams, and may be customer-facing to support integration, debug, and deployment in hyperscale and data-center environments.

We are hiring Individual Contributors (Senior up to Senior Principal). This role is required onsite in San Jose, CA.

Key Responsibilities (scope scales by level)

• Architect, develop, and maintain bare-metal and low-level firmware running on embedded microcontrollers within Astera Labs SoCs and systems.
• Design and implement device drivers, core firmware services, and hardware abstraction layers for high-speed connectivity products.
• Define and implement HW-SW interfaces in close collaboration with RTL, PD, and Architecture teams.
• Lead bring-up, debug, and validation of firmware on silicon and system platforms.
• Develop and maintain C/C++ firmware codebases, SDKs, and supporting infrastructure.
• Build automation, tooling, and diagnostics using Python and scripting frameworks.
• Participate in system-level debug involving PCIe, Ethernet, memory subsystems, and interconnect fabrics.
• Support customer enablement, integration, and escalations as needed.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field (Master’s preferred).
• Strong fundamentals in embedded systems, computer architecture, and low-level software.
• Proven experience developing firmware for complex SoC or silicon-based products in Server, Storage, Networking, or Accelerator environments.
• Proficiency in C (required); C++ experience is a plus.
• Ability to work cross-functionally in a fast-paced, highly technical environment.

Required Experience

• Bare-metal or RTOS-based firmware development (e.g., ThreadX, MQX, or equivalent).
• Firmware development for on-chip microcontrollers and supporting SDKs.
• Strong debugging skills across hardware, firmware, and system layers.
• Familiarity with firmware build systems and tooling (gcc, Make, Git, Doxygen).
• Python scripting for automation, validation, or tooling.
• Hands-on experience with server, storage, or networking systems.

Preferred Experience / Nice to Have

• Firmware development for PCIe or Ethernet switch products.
• Exposure to BMCs, OpenBMC, or system management firmware.
• Experience with high-speed interfaces such as:
  • PCIe (Gen3+)
  • Ethernet (100G / 400G+)
  • DDR, NVMe, USB, Infiniband
• Participation in industry forums or ecosystems (e.g., OCP, OpenBMC).
• Customer-facing or field-enablement experience.

The base salary range is $135,000–$255,000 USD for Senior through Senior Principal roles. Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions.