Sr Staff Software Engineer

Ambiq Micro, Inc.•Austin, TX

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Ambiq is hiring a Sr. Staff Software Engineer, Power Management, to lead the architecture, requirements, development, testing, and performance optimization of SDK power management software for its low-power Edge AI MCUs. The role works closely with SoC hardware power architects, product marketing, validation, software development teams, and IP vendors to define software architecture, functional allocations, and requirements for platform power management infrastructure. The engineer provides technical leadership and architectural direction to software development and system test teams, supporting delivery of robust, production-quality software on schedule. The work encompasses power management infrastructure, memory control and retention, clock management, low-power operating modes, and software methods for optimizing system-level power consumption. The successful candidate combines early-stage software architecture experience with hands-on embedded development for ARM Cortex-M processors in RTOS and bare-metal environments. The role is actively involved in software design, implementation, code reviews, debugging, profiling, optimization, and technical leadership. This role is on-site five days a week in NW Austin. Applicants must currently be authorized to work in the United States for any employer; Ambiq does not sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment visas for this role.

Requirements

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
10+ years of experience developing embedded software for ARM Cortex-M-based systems in bare-metal and RTOS environments.
Expert-level C/C++ programming skills and experience with low-level firmware, device drivers, hardware abstraction layers (HAL), and startup code.
Strong understanding of SoC architecture, including processor subsystems, memory hierarchy, bus interconnects, interrupts, DMA engines, cache architectures, memory protection, inter-processor communication, and shared memory systems.
Proven experience designing, implementing, debugging, profiling, and optimizing software for ultra-low-power embedded systems.
Strong understanding of embedded power management techniques, including clock management, voltage and frequency scaling, power domains, memory retention, clock gating, and low-power operating modes.
Experience profiling and analyzing power consumption across software and hardware boundaries, including identifying and resolving system-level performance and power bottlenecks.
Hands-on experience with embedded development and debug tools, including JTAG/SWD debuggers, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power analyzers, and software profiling tools.
Experience with modern software engineering practices, including Git-based source control, code reviews, continuous integration, and automated testing.
Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills, including the ability to lead technical discussions across hardware and software disciplines.
Ability to independently manage assigned tasks, prioritize workload, and meet deadlines with minimal supervision; proactive problem-solving and seeking clarification when needed.
Must be currently authorized to work in the United States for any employer; employment visa sponsorship or sponsorship transfer is not available.

Nice To Haves

ARM assembly language experience.
Experience defining software architectures and technical requirements for complex embedded systems.
Knowledge of power requirements for wireless protocols such as BLE, WiFi, and 802.15.4.
Experience working with FreeRTOS and Zephyr.
Familiarity with at least one MCU IDE on Windows, such as ARM/Keil, IAR, Eclipse, or another IDE.

Responsibilities

Define software requirements and functional allocations based on input from SoC hardware architects, product marketing, software architects, validation, and software development teams.
Design, develop, debug, profile, and optimize AmbiqSuite SDK power management software, including power modeling and characterization across varied operating conditions.
Own SoC software architecture, performance, and power optimization, identifying opportunities to reduce power consumption while maintaining system performance and functionality.
Work with product marketing, field engineering, validation, and system test teams to understand customer use cases and translate them into software architecture, implementation, and test requirements.
Serve as the technical authority for power management software by reviewing designs, architecture, code, test plans, and validation results.
Lead cross-functional technical discussions with hardware architects, firmware developers, validation teams, and IP vendors to resolve architectural issues and support product execution.
Diagnose complex system-level hardware and software issues and evaluate architectural trade-offs involving power, performance, cost, and implementation complexity.
Develop software for low-power operating modes, clock management, memory retention, wake-up sequencing, and other power management infrastructure components.
Define and implement methodologies, tools, and metrics to measure, profile, and optimize software power consumption.
Work with relevant teams to ensure power-optimized RTOS ports for Ambiq SoCs.
Provide technical leadership through design reviews, code reviews, technical mentoring, and software development best practices.