Product Security Engineer - Hardware/Firmware

Sandisk • Milpitas, CA

21h

About The Position

Sandisk’s Product Security Engineering & Assurance (PSEA) organization is seeking highly motivated Product Security Engineers – Hardware/Firmware specializing in security considerations for Client and Enterprise storage products (SSDs) that incorporate hardware and firmware components. This role will partner closely with firmware, hardware, Platform Security, validation, and product teams to strengthen security across Sandisk products through product security assessments, security readiness assurance, PSIRT support, technical risk mitigation guidance, and product security enablement. The ideal candidate combines strong technical depth in embedded systems and firmware with practical product security experience and the ability to influence engineering teams toward scalable, risk-informed security outcomes. This role requires strong technical judgment, hands-on engagement, and the ability to communicate complex cybersecurity topics to engineering, business, and customer stakeholders.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or greater in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity, or related technical field.
• 5+ years of experience in product security, embedded systems, firmware engineering, hardware/software security, or related disciplines.
• Strong understanding of: hardware and firmware security principles, embedded systems security, security threat modeling, security risk assessments, vulnerability management, security risk mitigation.
• Familiarity with: secure boot, authentication and authorization, cryptographic protocols and libraries, firmware update security, hardware-software interactions, Flash storage, RAM, and cache systems.
• Working knowledge of cybersecurity standards, best practices, and secure development principles.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively across technical and non-technical audiences.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with SSDs, storage controllers, flash technologies, or storage system architectures strongly preferred.
• 3+ years of embedded hardware/software development or design experience.
• Familiarity with: FIPS 140, Common Criteria, CVSS, Vulnerability management, Incident response, Penetration testing.
• Experience supporting PSIRT or vulnerability response activities is a plus.
• Experience with embedded software development is a plus.
• Strong analytical, technical problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.
• Strong technical communication and documentation capabilities.
• Ability to influence engineering teams through technical credibility and collaboration.
• Strong judgment in balancing product risk, customer commitments, and business priorities.
• Passion for cybersecurity, emerging threats, and secure product development.

Responsibilities

• Partner with firmware, hardware, and product teams to strengthen cybersecurity considerations across product lifecycles.
• Provide technical guidance on implementation of security requirements and security controls for hardware and firmware-based products.
• Evaluate product security posture and implementation effectiveness with a security lens, identifying potential attack paths, control gaps, and risk areas.
• Help product teams prioritize practical mitigations based on product risk, exploitability, and business objectives.
• Support product teams in balancing cybersecurity rigor with product delivery objectives and business priorities.
• Facilitate product security risk assessments and support threat modeling activities across firmware-driven products.
• Assess product security risks across: authentication and authorization mechanisms, firmware update protections, secure boot and trust anchors, cryptographic protections, debug and manufacturing access controls, provisioning and lifecycle security mechanisms.
• Participate in technical reviews to evaluate security implementation effectiveness and identify opportunities for risk reduction.
• Support product security readiness activities by evaluating implementation effectiveness, security evidence, and residual product risk from an assurance perspective.
• Assess security posture and implementation effectiveness related to: authentication and authorization mechanisms, firmware update protections, secure boot and trust anchors, cryptographic protections, debug and manufacturing access controls, provisioning and lifecycle security mechanisms.
• Evaluate security artifacts and technical evidence including: threat modeling outputs, SAST and static analysis findings, SBOM and dependency risk visibility, fuzzing and penetration testing outcomes, vulnerability remediation activities, security validation evidence.
• Support customer, regulatory, and internal security assurance activities through technical assessment, documentation, and security evidence review.
• Provide technically grounded recommendations to strengthen product security posture, reduce risk, and improve confidence in product readiness.
• Identify recurring security gaps, lessons learned, and opportunities for scalable product security improvement across programs.
• Support Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) activities, including vulnerability triage, technical assessment, remediation coordination, and product security risk evaluation.
• Conduct technical vulnerability assessments and support CVSS scoring activities based on exploitability, deployment context, product exposure, and customer impact.
• Partner with firmware and product teams to assess reported vulnerabilities, identify root causes, and recommend practical remediation strategies.
• Help translate vulnerability learnings into durable product security improvements and security best practices.
• Support coordination and technical analysis for external vulnerability disclosures, customer-reported issues, and security research findings.
• Author technical security white papers, technical guidance, and customer-facing security content related to product security posture, secure design practices, and emerging cybersecurity topics.
• Support customer security inquiries, product assurance requests, and technical cybersecurity discussions.
• Contribute to internal security guidance, reusable security patterns, and best practices to improve consistency across product teams.
• Collaborate closely with: Platform Security Architects, Firmware Engineering, Hardware/ASIC teams, Product Engineering, Validation teams, PSIRT, Product Security Assurance, External security assessment partners.
• Provide clear technical direction and risk-informed guidance to engineering and business stakeholders.

Benefits

• paid vacation time
• paid sick leave
• medical/dental/vision insurance
• life, accident and disability insurance
• tax-advantaged flexible spending and health savings accounts
• employee assistance program
• other voluntary benefit programs such as supplemental life and AD&D, legal plan, pet insurance, critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity
• tuition reimbursement
• transit
• the Applause Program
• employee stock purchase plan
• Sandisk's Savings 401(k) Plan
• Short-Term Incentive (STI) Plan
• annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program (restricted stock units (RSUs) or cash equivalents)
• RSU awards for eligible new hires

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior