Senior / Lead Embedded Software Engineer - Zephyr RTOS
About GlobalFoundries
GlobalFoundries is a leading full-service semiconductor foundry providing a unique combination of design, development, and fabrication services to some of the world’s most inspired technology companies. With a global manufacturing footprint spanning three continents, GlobalFoundries makes possible the technologies and systems that transform industries and give customers the power to shape their markets. For more information, visit www.gf.com
Join the RISC-V Revolution!
We are looking for a senior hands-on engineer to lead Zephyr RTOS architecture and platform enablement for MIPS RISC-V based MCU and embedded compute products. This role combines deep low-level development with technical ownership, upstream engagement, mentoring, and cross-functional delivery.
Key Responsibilities
- Own the Zephyr enablement architecture and technical roadmap across MIPS RISC-V processors, SoCs, FPGA platforms, and virtual development platforms.
- Lead porting and platform bring-up covering boot flow, exception and interrupt handling, timers, SMP where applicable, memory architecture, devicetree, Kconfig, and build integration.
- Define scalable BSP, SoC, board, and driver architecture aligned with Zephyr conventions and upstream-quality expectations.
- Design and review device drivers, middleware integration, samples, tests, and production-quality SDK deliverables.
- Lead complex debugging across kernel, toolchain, architecture, hardware, and driver boundaries using emulation, FPGA, and silicon.
- Establish automated build and regression strategy using Zephyr testing infrastructure and CI/CD systems.
- Drive upstream contributions, technical discussions, reviews, and maintenance strategy within the Zephyr ecosystem.
- Work closely with CPU architecture, SoC, FPGA, tools, validation, safety, and customer teams; convert product requirements into executable software plans.
- Mentor engineers, raise engineering quality, and provide technical direction without losing hands-on ownership.
Ideally, You'll Have
- 8+ years of embedded software development experience, with substantial hands-on work in C and low-level platform software.
- Deep Zephyr RTOS expertise across kernel configuration, architecture or SoC ports, devicetree, Kconfig, west/CMake, board support, drivers, and test infrastructure.
- Strong understanding of RTOS internals, concurrency, interrupt architecture, memory management, boot flows, multicore systems, and real-time performance.
- Proven experience leading complex BSP, SDK, RTOS, or silicon-enablement programs from architecture through release.
- Experience with bare-metal firmware, first-board or first-silicon bring-up, device drivers, and hardware/software debugging.
- Strong debugging capability using GDB, OpenOCD, Segger J-Link, Lauterbach, trace tools, and hardware logs.
- Experience with CI/CD, test automation, Python or shell scripting, code review, release quality, and software configuration management.
- Ability to communicate architecture and execution trade-offs clearly to hardware, software, program, and customer stakeholders.
Strong Differentiators
- Zephyr maintainer-level expertise or meaningful upstream contribution history.
- RISC-V architecture expertise, including privilege modes, interrupts, timers, SMP, cache or memory-ordering considerations, and toolchain integration.
- Experience with networking, Ethernet, TCP/IP, security, MCUboot, secure firmware update, or device management.
- Experience enabling RTOS software on pre-silicon models, FPGA, and production silicon.
- Exposure to functional safety or secure software development for automotive, industrial, or infrastructure applications.
What You'll Get
- A charter to shape Zephyr strategy and execution for a new RISC-V platform.
- Direct access to CPU architects, platform software, FPGA, validation, and toolchain teams.
- Visible technical ownership spanning architecture, upstream ecosystem, customer enablement, and release quality.
- A path to grow as a principal technical contributor or broader technical leader.
MIPS by GF is a microprocessor pioneer with deep roots in RISC-based computing. Today, MIPS is building RISC-V processor solutions for high-performance and embedded applications, combining CPU architecture expertise with platform software, tools, and ecosystem enablement.
GlobalFoundries is an equal opportunity employer, cultivating a diverse and inclusive workforce. We believe having a multicultural workplace enhances productivity, efficiency and innovation whilst our employees feel truly respected, valued and heard. As an affirmative employer, all qualified applicants are considered for employment regardless of age, ethnicity, marital status, citizenship, race, religion, political affiliation, gender, sexual orientation and medical and/or physical abilities.
All offers of employment with GlobalFoundries are conditioned upon the successful completion of background checks, medical screenings as applicable and subject to the respective local laws and regulations.
