Hardware Engineer

The application window is expected to close on: September 15, 2025. Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received. The successful applicant will provide ownership of and be performing work in FedRAMP or IL-5 type environments, and therefore, must be a U.S. Person (i.e. U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent resident, asylee, or refugee). This position may also perform work that the U.S. government has specified can only be performed by a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil. Meet the Team The Security & Trust Organization (S&TO) has corporate-level responsibility for customer data protection and compliance, corporate information protection, and government and product security. Security is a key concern of our customers and a top investment area for Cisco. Join us and help us become the #1 Trusted IT Company in the World. Within S&TO, the Foundational Security Technologies (FST) team seeks to increase product security and trustworthiness across a broad range of Cisco products through development, integration and deployment of reusable software and hardware solutions. Within Foundational Security, the Hardware & Firmware Security Team (HFST) focuses on security solutions implemented at the hardware and firmware level. Your Impact The HFST seeks an energetic, proactive hardware engineer to design, implement, test and support security features & solutions. This position provides an opportunity to grow and learn in the product development security space. We are seeking someone who has skills in hardware development, as well as experience working with embedded processor-based systems. Responsibilities are focused on the development and deployment of hardware and firmware-based security technologies that improve the trustworthiness of Cisco products. This is a multifaceted role including development activities within the Hardware & Firmware Security Team, applications engineering activities serving the product teams that are deploying security technologies, assessment of system architectures and components for security capabilities and/or vulnerabilities, and education to increase the security awareness of others. The successful candidate will need to be comfortable working in an environment with many concurrent activities and be able to prioritize and manage concurrent tasks. Since security threats are dynamic and constantly evolving, the role will also require ongoing education to improve security knowledge and awareness, investigation of new security threats and technologies to address them, as well as evaluation of security solutions. Designing, developing, documenting, and testing hardware or combined hardware and firmware-based security technologies on CPU evaluation platforms and Cisco products. Assisting internal product teams deploying hardware and software security technologies. Developing documentation, proof of concepts, reference code, and scripts to facilitate adoption and verification of security technologies. Participating in, and contributing to, hardware architecture, design, specifications, and HDL code reviews. Minimum Qualifications B.S./M.S. in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related technical field Experience with FPGA design and/or verification, using Verilog Hardware Description Language Experience with embedded CPU systems along with hardware debug and test in a lab environment Preferred Qualifications Strong troubleshooting skills and experience with board level bring-up using hardware debug tools and lab equipment (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and evaluation boards) Experience with x86 and ARM CPUs and boot architecture / bootstrap code Scripting language experience for automation using Python or Linux shell scripts Experience with security related design principles, methods, and architecture Experience with Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) standards, algorithms, and encryption techniques, with implementation experience in embedded products. Familiarity with CNSA1.0 and 2.0 standards, especially LMS/XMSS or ML-DSA. Ability to apply malware forensic analysis techniques and concepts to ensure advanced trustworthy product security features.

Salary : $76,000 - $134,000