Principal Firmware/Middleware Architect

Job Description Job Summay: As the Principal Firmware Architect for UALink Switch Products, you will serve as the technical visionary responsible for defining, designing, and driving the end-to-end embedded software and firmware architecture for our next-generation AI cluster scale-up switches. In this high-impact role, you will bridge the gap between cutting-edge silicon (ASICs) and upper-layer cluster orchestration software. You will define how firmware manages complex scale-up topologies, ensures raw hardware performance (maximizing bandwidth and minimizing latency), and maintains absolute reliability across thousands of connected AI accelerators. Key Responsibilities: 1. Architectural Definition & Design - Fabric Firmware Architecture: Architect and specify the low-level firmware running on internal microcontrollers within the UALink Switch ASIC. - Hardware-Software Co-Design: Collaborate heavily with ASIC design, logic design (RTL), and verification teams to define hardware-software interfaces, registers, scratchpads, and memory maps. - Protocol Implementation: Define the firmware stack to support UALink physical, link, and transport layers, managing credits, routing tables, and flow control. 2. Initialization, Boot, & Fabric Management - Link Initialization & Training: Design deterministic, fast link-training state machines to bring up ultra-high-speed die-to-die and chassis-to-chassis UALink connections. - Topology Discovery & Routing: Architect efficient algorithms for runtime topology discovery, dynamic routing, and credit management to prevent fabric congestion. - Platform Orchestration: Lead the design of SDKs and APIs that expose switch functionality to baseboard management controllers (BMCs) using OpenBMC and Redfish APIs. 3. Performance, RAS, & Security: - Latency & Bandwidth Optimization: Fine-tune bare-metal execution paths to guarantee deterministic low latency for collective communication primitives (e.g., All-Reduce, All-to-All). - Advanced RAS (Reliability, Availability, Serviceability): Design robust error-handling, telemetry, and fault-isolation micro-architectures (e.g., link degradation fallback, FEC, and error containment). - Security & Root of Trust: Implement secure boot, cryptographic firmware authentication, and runtime attestation to ensure fabric integrity.