Description
Synaptics is leading the charge in AI at the Edge, bringing AI closer to end users and transforming how we engage with intelligent connected devices, whether at home, at work, or on the move. As the go-to partner for the world’s most forward-thinking product innovators, Synaptics powers the future with its cutting-edge Synaptics Astra™ AI-Native embedded compute, Veros™ wireless connectivity, and multimodal sensing solutions.
We’re making the digital experience smarter, faster, more intuitive, secure, and seamless. From touch, display, and biometrics to AI-driven wireless connectivity, video, vision, audio, speech, and security processing, Synaptics is the force behind the next generation of technology enhancing how we live, work, and play.
Overview
Synaptics is looking for a Staff Firmware Application Engineer to support customer adoption and application development for Synaptics’ MCU product line.
This role focuses on RTOS-based embedded platforms, including but not limited to FreeRTOS and Zephyr. The target products are multi-core systems integrating MCU, DSP, and NPU, supporting audio/image capture and processing, edge AI, vision, audio, and sensor-based applications.
The ideal candidate has strong embedded firmware expertise, solid RTOS experience, excellent C programming skills, hands-on debugging capability, and the ability to work directly with customers to drive successful application development from evaluation to mass production. This position reports to the Director, Audio Software Engineering
Responsibilities & Competencies
Job Duties
-
Provide frontline technical support for customer engagements, including pre-sales discussions, customer demos, solution alignment, on-site debugging, and production support
-
Help customers understand Synaptics’ MCU product architecture, SDK structure, RTOS development flow, driver model, middleware, sample applications, and application development process
-
Support customer application development based on Synaptics SDK, including RTOS task design, peripheral configuration, data pipeline integration, algorithm integration, and system-level debugging
-
Support audio applications such as audio capture, playback, audio encoding, ENC, playback enhancement, voice processing, and audio pipeline integration
-
Support edge AI application development on NPU, including model integration, runtime configuration, data preprocessing/post-processing, performance tuning, and demo enablement for vision and audio use cases
-
Support customer integration of embedded interfaces, including SPI, QSPI, OSPI, I2S, I2C, I3C, USB, ADC, DAC, UART, GPIO, PWM, DMA, and timers
-
Diagnose and resolve customer issues related to RTOS scheduling, interrupt handling, memory management, peripheral drivers, boot flow, firmware upgrade, power management, audio quality, AI performance, and system stability
-
Use tools such as JTAG, SWD, trace tools, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, protocol analyzers, audio analyzers, and firmware logs to isolate hardware/software/system issues.
-
Work closely with internal firmware, SDK, algorithm, validation, hardware, and product teams to reproduce customer issues, drive root-cause analysis, provide workarounds, and follow up on fixes
-
Travel frequently for customer visits, on-site bring-up, technical workshops, debugging, and production support
Competencies
-
Strong background in embedded MCU, RTOS, firmware development, SDK development, or application engineering
-
Deep understanding of RTOS concepts, including task scheduling, priority, interrupt handling, mutex, semaphore, queue, event flag, timer, memory management, context switch, and real-time constraints
- Strong hands-on experience with FreeRTOS, Zephyr, or similar RTOS environments
-
Strong understanding of embedded software architecture, including bootloader, startup code, linker script, memory layout, interrupt vector table, driver framework, HAL, middleware, and application layer
-
Excellent C programming skills, including pointer usage, memory management, bit operations, concurrency issues, interrupt-safe programming, and embedded coding practices
-
Strong experience with RTOS-based embedded development, preferably FreeRTOS, Zephyr, or similar RTOS
-
Strong C programming skills and solid understanding of embedded software design, debugging, and optimization
-
Solid knowledge of common embedded interfaces and protocols, including SPI, QSPI, OSPI, I2S, I2C, I3C, USB, ADC, DAC, UART, GPIO, PWM, DMA, and timers
-
Strong customer-facing communication skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts clearly to both engineering and management audiences
-
Proactive, self-driven, organized, and able to work independently in a fast-paced customer support environment
-
Strong ownership mindset and ability to coordinate cross-functional teams to resolve customer issues
Qualifications (Requirements)
-
Bachelor’s degree (Master’s preferred) in Computer Science, Electronic Engineering, or related field or equivalent
-
8+ years of hands-on experience in embedded firmware development, RTOS development, MCU application development, SDK development, or embedded application engineering.
-
Experience with C++, Python, Makefile, and embedded software build systems
-
Experience with MCU peripheral drivers and embedded interfaces, including SPI, QSPI/OSPI, I2S, I2C/I3C, USB, ADC/DAC, UART, GPIO, DMA, timers, and interrupt controllers
-
Experience with customer-facing technical support, field application engineering, or customer SDK enablement
-
Experience with hardware bring-up and debugging using JTAG/SWD, oscilloscope, logic analyzer, protocol analyzer, firmware logs, and trace tools
-
Familiarity with audio and/or video application development, such as audio capture/playback, audio enhancement, voice/audio processing, camera/image pipeline, or AI inference pipeline
-
Familiar with audio and/or video application concepts, such as sampling rate, frame size, latency, buffering, audio pipeline, audio enhancement, voice processing, image preprocessing, and AI inference pipeline
-
Experience with edge AI application development or AI software integration on embedded devices is preferred
-
Experience supporting OEM/ODM customers from evaluation to mass production is preferred
-
Excellent English verbal and written communication skills.
-
Frequent travel required for customer site visits and support
Belief in Diversity
Synaptics is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to workforce diversity. Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, color, age, religion, protected veteran or disability status, or genetic information.
