Firmware Engineer

Protocol Stack Design and Maintenance

• Design and maintain the NVMe protocol stack, including Admin and I/O command processing, and Submission/Completion Queue management.
• Ensure full compliance with the latest NVMe specifications and PCIe Gen5 protocol requirements.
• Design and implement SMBus and I3C communication protocols, ensuring reliable and accurate data exchange with the host controller.

Command Processing and Flow Control

• Implement NVMe command parsing, data transfer mechanisms, and completion flows, supporting multi-namespace operations.
• Implement SMBus/I3C read/write commands and data flow, including status monitoring, temperature/voltage reporting, and control command handling.

Error Reporting and Recovery

• Implement proper status code reporting, Asynchronous Event Notification (AEN), and error recovery flows to ensure host compatibility.
• Handle timeout, abort, and reset scenarios to maintain system stability and minimize host impact.
• Design SMBus/I3C error detection and retry mechanisms to prevent transmission errors from causing system failures.

Compliance and Interoperability

• Verify compatibility with industry-standard NVMe compliance tools and host platforms.
• Validate SMBus and I3C communication against JEDEC/MIPI specifications to ensure broad interoperability with different host systems and controllers.

Debug and Validation

• Capture and analyze PCIe/NVMe transactions using protocol analyzers, logic analyzers, and firmware logs.
• Monitor SMBus/I3C transfers, analyze timing and error conditions, and ensure firmware implementation is stable and reliable.
• Collaborate with validation teams to execute compliance, stress, and corner-case tests, including hot-plug, power management, error injection, and multi-protocol concurrency tests.
• Provide root-cause analysis and implement fixes for protocol-related issues found during validation or in customer systems.

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related fields.
• At least 3 years work experience in each of the following:
• Software/firmware applications engineering
• Experience in SSD controller/firmware architecture
• Strong experience in C/C++ programming and data structure
• Hands on experience with JTAG/ICE debuggers
• Experience with version control software like Git.
• Competent to work independently as well as in a small team collaboration environment.
• Must be willing to learn fast and execute as a team player.
• Good oral, written and presentation skills for communication and documentation.
• Ability to work independently with a minimum of day-to-day supervision.

Preferred Qualifications:

• The ability to operate logic analyzer, oscilloscope and bus protocol analyzer is valuable.
• Familiar with SATA/PCIe (NVMe) protocols
• Familiar with NAND flash protocols
• Linux system debug experience.
• Fluent in reading and writing Mandarin preferred.

The successful candidate’s starting base pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location and market conditions. The expected base pay range for this role may be modified based on market conditions.

SMI-USA: Compensation, Benefits, Rewards and Culture

Silicon Motion believes that a company’s most important asset is their employees. That is why we make sure that we offer an excellent array of benefits to eligible employees and encourage them to find balance between work and life. We offer competitive compensation and reward superior performance. Employees are eligible to be recognized in the following ways:

• Highly competitive salaries differentiated by performance.
• Annual merit increases
• Year-end bonus
• RSU for eligible employees
• Invention and Patent Awards
• 401(k) Employer Matching
• Length of Service Awards
• We offer comprehensive health insurance plans for eligible employees and dependents. There are plans to meet the needs of you and your family.