About The Role

We are seeking

Principal DSP Firmware Engineer to lead the architecture, development, and validation of firmware supporting advanced DSP algorithms on next‑generation silicon platforms. You will play a critical role in defining DSP firmware strategy, owning pre‑silicon development, and leading silicon bring‑up, while mentoring engineers across the team.

This role is ideal for a senior technologist who can own end‑to‑end DSP firmware subsystems and drive technical decisions from architecture through deployment.

Locations Available: Ottawa, ON

–

Córdoba, Argentina

–

Irvine, CA

Key Responsibilities

Lead the architecture, design, and implementation of DSP firmware subsystems

Define FW control interfaces, configuration parameters, and runtime debug controls and diagnostics

Drive collaboration with system architects and DSP designers on algorithm partitioning, FSM design, and firmware controls

Design finite state machines governing DSP acquisition and tracking control loops

Optimize firmware for real‑time operation, latency, throughput, and resource usage to meet FW specifications

Own pre‑silicon test‑driven development framework for DSP firmware

Hardware Abstraction Layer generation and integration with simulation, emulation platforms

Collaborate with verification teams to align firmware validation strategy with regression infrastructure

Drive regression strategy, automation, and test reusability, including customer release automation using Jenkins pipelines

Debug complex firmware, DSP, and system‑level issues

Own bring‑up of DSP acquisition flows

Analyze issues using firmware logs, traces, and instrumentation

Support regression testing teams by identifying root causes and improving test coverage





Enforce firmware coding standards, test coverage and best practices

Mentor and guide junior firmware engineers

Contribute to defining development workflows, and long‑term maintainability

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.

6–10 years of experience in embedded/firmware development.

Robust background in DSP theory and algorithm implementation

Optimizing FFT algorithms and FFT‑based resampling (preferably on SiFive processors)

Deep experience architecting DSP‑centric firmware systems and expert‑level programming skills in C/C++

Familiar with emulation testing frameworks and firmware‑level mocking strategies

Experience with pre‑silicon development, silicon bring‑up, and system‑level debugging

Familiar with UVM based verification environments and SystemVerilog test methodologies

Familiar with FPGA and emulation platforms for pre silicon validation

Experience with silicon bring-up, board bring-up, and complex firmware debugging.

Ability to work cross‑functionally with systems, DSP, verification, and hardware teams

Strong technical leadership and mentoring skills

Preferred Qualifications

Knowledge of

CMIS (Common Management Interface Specification) standards for optical modules

RISC V architecture (SiFive or similar)

Familiarity with

Operating environments: Embedded Linux or RTOS (FreeRTOS, Zephyr, VxWorks)

Boot architecture: U‑Boot, custom multi‑stage boot flows

Low‑level SoC and hardware interfaces: PCIe, Ethernet, I2C, SPI, UART

Salary Range for US

$150,000 - $250,000 Base Annually The final offer will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, and location.

📌 Principal DSP Firmware Engineer (Ahuntsic)
🏢 Socket.dev
📍 Ahuntsic