Senior Firmware Security Engineer

NVIDIA is hiring a Senior Firmware Security Engineer in Santa Clara, United States. It pays $152k-$242k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on NVIDIA.

Level's read on this job

On Level's scale, this cybersecurity role is Little AI ●○○○: aI is not part of the work.
Tools and skills the posting cites include C, firmware and security.
Level classifies it as a senior role.
Level lists 2,700+ other open roles at NVIDIA.
The role was posted within the past two weeks.

AI in this role

Design, develop, test, and optimize secure boot and root of trust firmware for GPUs in resource-constrained environments.

firmwaresecurityembedded-systemscryptography

Do you enjoy hacking and tinkering at the lowest levels of software? Are you capable of crafting and implementing creative secure firmware solutions in heavily resource-constrained environments? If so, you’re primed to help develop the boot software that powers the world’s best GPUs. NVIDIA is searching for an outstanding security software engineer to fill an exciting, yet fun role on our GPU Firmware team. You will be joining a team whose primary mission is solving the intricate enigma of securing and innovating the boot process for our GPUs, while working through the formidable constraints of boot-time and storage space. Every. Byte. Counts.

The GPU Firmware team builds the root of trust firmware for GPUs that provides secure boot, update, and attestation services for all our GPU products from gaming to high-performance compute in the datacenter. We want your help to build an industry leading security posture for a security critical component across all these products.

What you’ll be doing:

Design, develop, test, debug, and optimize GPU firmware throughout the entire GPU lifecycle
Continuously evaluate and improve the security posture of firmware and hardware that form the root of trust for our products
Improve team software process and core infrastructure by enhancing build systems, regression farms, and security test infrastructure
Participate in in-depth security reviews of software, hardware, process, and infrastructure
Facilitate security requirements and solutions by participating in industry standards such as NIST, Open Compute Project, DMTF etc., and aligning with key customers and partners
Collaborate with NVIDIA’s and third-party vendors’ hardware and software teams to improve security across hardware, BootROMs, and software stacks
Work within a larger virtual security team on other parts of the GPU stack, as necessary

What we need to see:

BS or MS degree in EE/CS/CE (or equivalent experience)
5+ years’ experience in developing device BIOS, firmware, or other low-level software
2+ years’ experience in building secure firmware and working with hardware security components
Strong C skills
Secure software fundamentals including cryptography, authentication/attestation, chains of trust, and understanding of common SW security vulnerabilities
Easy to work with, as you’ll constantly work closely with both hardware designers and other software engineers to design, develop, and debug functional (and non-functional!) aspects of GPU subsystems

Ways to stand out from the crowd:

Experience with threat modeling, formal design analysis, hardware/firmware architecture, and other demonstrable security experience in a defensive security focused role.
Background with secure development techniques such as attack-trees, static/dynamic analysis, fuzzing, and negative testing
Experience developing for safety critical platforms
Experience with formal verification
Passion for your work

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is 152,000 USD - 241,500 USD.

You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until October 17, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

How we rate this

Senior Firmware Security Engineer at NVIDIA rates 0 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Little AI. AI is not part of the work.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Senior Firmware Security Engineer is an open job at NVIDIA.
Level rates this role AI Level 1 of 4: Little AI.
The listed salary is $152k-$242k a year.
The role is based in US, CA, Santa Clara.
The job was posted on October 13, 2026.
Seniority: senior.
Applications are handled by NVIDIA. Apply on NVIDIA

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

FirmwareSecurityEmbedded SystemsCryptographyC

Also common in cybersecurity jobs at this level

Python AWS Azure Google Cloud Kubernetes Terraform

Pay

This job starts at: $152k
Typical cybersecurity job: $159k

This posting starts 5% below the typical cybersecurity job. See cybersecurity jobs

Questions you could be asked

Tell me about a project where firmware was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where security was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where embedded systems was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where cryptography was part of your work. What did you do?
Walk me through how you've used C in your day-to-day work.

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Firmware, Security, Embedded Systems, Cryptography, and C. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.

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