NFC FW Architect

NFC‑based platforms are at the heart of secure connected experiences across mobile, wearables, automotive, and IoT ecosystems. They span domains such as secure NFC transactions, digital wallets, infrastructure services, platform enablement, and low-level silicon integration. As a Firmware Architect in the NFC Firmware organization, you will contribute to defining and delivering robust firmware architectures that operate close to silicon and enable reliable product execution across multiple NFC use cases.

This role focuses on platform firmware architecture and execution for PCRM, low-level platform software, tapeout readiness, and post-silicon bring-up, while collaborating across hardware, systems, validation, and firmware development teams.

We are looking for a hands-on firmware technologist with strong embedded/firmware roots, good understanding of real-time systems and SoC platforms, and practical experience translating system and hardware requirements into clean, scalable firmware designs.

Your Responsibilities:

• She/He shall work as an NFC Firmware Architect and contribute to new product development, debugging, bring-up, and maintenance of NXP's embedded firmware for NFC products.
• Define and support firmware architecture for RISC-V/ARM platform.
• Derive firmware requirements from system, hardware, PCRM, and customer specifications.
• Design firmware sub-systems and low-level software components to meet functional, performance, memory, timing, and power requirements.
• Review design and code contributions, provide technical guidance, and help maintain quality of firmware deliverables.
• Own one or more firmware modules or platform software sub-systems from design through integration and bring-up.
• Define and write firmware design specifications, interface specifications, and low-level platform software documentation.
• Support definition of validation and bring-up environments for pre-silicon, emulation, FPGA, and post-silicon phases.
• Contribute to firmware test strategy at unit, integration, system, and silicon bring-up levels.
• Support tapeout readiness activities by reviewing firmware dependencies, register/interface assumptions, boot flows, and hardware-software integration risks.
• Closely interact with hardware development teams, system architects, validation teams, and component technical experts to resolve low-level integration issues.
• Collaborate effectively with partner teams and ensure firmware architecture considers product, platform, and silicon constraints.
• Define firmware design guidelines, development flows, debug approaches, and bring-up checklists for platform software.

Your Profile:

• Mandatory:
  • 8-12 years of embedded firmware development experience, preferably in SoC, mobile, secure embedded, or RTOS-based embedded systems.
  • Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Electronics & Communication, Power Electronics from reputed institute with strong academic records.
  • Embedded software design and development on 8/16/32-bit platforms, preferably RISC-V and ARM architectures.
  • Excellent C programming skills, exposure to assembly with hands-on development experience.
  • Must have experience in low-level firmware programming, including boot flows, boot loaders, interrupt handling, memory maps, clocks, power states, SPI/I2C/UART drivers, RF interfaces, and embedded RTOS concepts.
  • Hands-on knowledge of RTOS, its concepts and usage.
  • Good knowledge of SoC hardware IP datasheets, register-level programming, hardware-software interfaces, and low-level driver development.
  • Hands-on exposure to PCRM topics, platform configuration, reset/clock/power management, and low-level initialization flows.
  • Experience supporting tapeout and bring-up activities, including pre-silicon validation on RTL, FPGA/emulation usage, post-silicon debug, and issue triage with hardware teams.
  • Exposure to IDEs like LPCXpresso, Keil, Eclipse
  • Experience in using Debuggers. (TRAC32/J-LINK/LPC-LINK)
  • Exposure to change management / configuration management, bug tracking tools.
  • Hands-on with AI based efficiency gaining tools.
• Optional
  • Exposure to C++ / C#, Perl/Python is an added advantage
  • Good understanding of NFC technology.
• Personality
  • Excellent analytical, problem solving, debugging skills & influencing skills with go-to attitude
  • Self-motivated, proactive, good verbal and written communication.
  • Sufficiently mobile and flexible, work location based out of Bangalore
  • Experienced in requirements derivation, low-level design, high-level design, and hands-on implementation in platform firmware domains.
  • Empathic communicator, able to see things from the other person's point of view and a good team player with cross functional, cross cultural & Global teams

Desired Skill Set

• Knowledge of software development life cycle (SDLC) for embedded firmware development
• Knowledge of embedded platforms, low-level platform software, and close collaboration with hardware teams is preferred.
• Understanding of tapeout milestones, silicon bring-up planning, debug instrumentation, and hardware-software readiness criteria.
• Know-how of smart card Contact less Proximity Standards such as ISO14443, ISO15693, ISO18092, ISO7816 etc.
• Near Field Communication Standards.
• Willing to travel to other countries on need basis

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