Firmware & Diagnostics Architect

Cadence Systems•San Jose, CA

2d•$185,500 - $344,500

About The Position

Cadence is seeking an experienced Firmware & Diagnostics Architect to lead the architecture, design, and evolution of firmware and diagnostic technologies for next-generation high-performance computing, prototyping, and hardware acceleration systems. This technical leadership role will define long-term strategy for platform firmware, system diagnostics, telemetry, observability, validation, and automated recovery. The architect will work across hardware, software, validation, manufacturing, and customer support teams to improve product reliability, accelerate root-cause analysis, and deliver strong customer experiences. The role includes setting platform architecture and reliability strategy, enabling next-generation platforms, solving complex system challenges, and influencing technical direction across engineering organizations. The architect will mentor senior engineers and technical leaders, drive engineering standards and roadmaps, and represent firmware and diagnostics architecture in executive and customer-facing discussions.

Requirements

A BS with a minimum of 12 years of experience, an MS with a minimum of 10 years of experience, or a PhD with a minimum of 8 years of experience.
12+ years of experience in firmware, embedded systems, platform software, or hardware diagnostics.
Strong expertise in C/C++ development for embedded systems.
Proven experience architecting complex firmware or diagnostics solutions.
Deep understanding of system architecture, hardware/software interactions, and low-level debugging.
Experience with platform bring-up, system validation, and hardware debugging.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Excellent communication and technical leadership abilities.
Ability to navigate architectural strategy and deep technical debugging.
Strong customer focus and passion for solving real-world reliability challenges.
Experience leading cross-functional technical initiatives.
Track record of delivering technology that scales across multiple product generations.
Ability to influence without authority and drive alignment across diverse engineering teams.

Nice To Haves

Experience with platform firmware architecture and Board Management Controllers (BMC).
Experience in Embedded Linux environments.
Experience with PCIe, Ethernet, DDR, and high-speed interfaces.
Experience with FPGA-based systems.
Experience with diagnostics and health-monitoring frameworks.
Experience with telemetry and observability infrastructure.
Experience with hardware emulation or prototyping systems.
Experience with automated validation and regression testing.
Experience with manufacturing and field diagnostics.
Experience with performance analysis and failure triage.
Experience with JTAG, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, and hardware debug tools.
Experience with Python, Tcl, Bash, or similar automation technologies.

Responsibilities

Lead the architecture of firmware, diagnostics, telemetry, and health-monitoring frameworks.
Develop scalable solutions for platform management, observability, fault detection, and automated recovery.
Establish common diagnostic frameworks for use across multiple product generations.
Partner with hardware architects to improve platform serviceability and debuggability.
Define strategies for proactive health monitoring and predictive fault detection.
Improve system resiliency through intelligent diagnostics and recovery mechanisms.
Drive architectural improvements that reduce customer downtime and simplify issue resolution.
Establish platform-wide reliability and serviceability requirements.
Lead technical strategy for board bring-up, system validation, manufacturing test, and field diagnostics.
Define validation methodologies covering firmware, connectivity, memory, power, thermal, and performance subsystems.
Drive design reviews and technical readiness assessments for new products and technologies.
Lead investigations of critical customer and internal system issues.
Guide root-cause analysis involving hardware, firmware, operating systems, and infrastructure components.
Establish best practices for failure analysis and issue triage.
Influence technical direction across multiple engineering organizations.
Mentor senior engineers and technical leaders.
Drive engineering standards, architectural reviews, and long-term technology roadmaps.
Represent firmware and diagnostics architecture in executive and customer-facing discussions.