Multi-domain Security Software Engineer

We believe Codasip is the most innovative processor solutions company. We take pride in designing and developing cutting-edge, high-performance, and energy-efficient CPU cores from scratch, and our own automated proprietary tools to fully customize them. We give our customers a unique competitive advantage by empowering their system-on-chip developers to build the most innovative products.

Our processor cores are based on the RISC-V open architecture. The potential for customizing RISC-V is unlocked with the Codasip Custom Compute approach: our unique architecture description language, CodAL, and the powerful automated processor design tool, Codasip Studio. These are at the heart of our unique and groundbreaking RISC-V processor solutions.

Founded in 2014, we’ve grown into a thriving and talented global community. Our IP engineering teams work from offices spread across Europe, including our first and largest design center in the beautiful city of Brno, Czechia. Across Europe, we already have design teams in Cambridge, Bristol, Munich, Villeneuve-Loubet, Barcelona, Thessaloniki, Heraklion and Athens. The Codasip team is also based close to its customers, which means we have dedicated sales and application engineers in the USA, Japan, Korea, and China.

Codasip is a private company backed by well-funded EU grants. Our products are already making a real impact, with billions of devices already in the market powered by our processor IP and tools.

• Department: Labs
• Employment: Full-time
• Experience level: Mid-Senior (Ph.D./ MSc)
• The location of work is Germany, ideally Munich.

The role

We are looking for an experienced embedded software developer to join our Security team and be part of realizing a whole new paradigm in semiconductors and microprocessor design. The role will be within our Labs organization, where we work on cutting edge technologies and prepare them for rapid commercialization.

Our RISC-V CPU hardware can support multiple execution domains using a number of different mechanisms:

• Physical Memory Protection (PMP)
• Hypervisor support (RISC-V H extension) and the emerging RISC-V CoVE (formerly AP-TEE) support
• CHERI security technology

These mechanisms support running multiple isolated secure and non-secure software environments (for example, running a rich OS such as Linux and a secure OS such as OP-TEE in parallel). This new job role is to work on the software architecture and implementation of such multi-domain support on RISC-V on a range of different CPU types and hardware technologies.

The role will involve prototyping multi-domain systems and then developing the best approaches into SDKs that we can supply to our customers. This will involve working with low-level security monitor firmware (e.g. secure hypervisors), secure and non-secure operating systems, inter-domain communication, and hardware security technologies.

In future, we will be looking to develop ever more advanced mechanisms by using a software-hardware co-design approach to support concepts such as Confidential Compute. As this is a Codasip Labs position, you will have the opportunity to propose ideas for new approaches and develop these to proof-of-concept and beyond.

We are looking for an experienced embedded software engineer who has an interest in software architecture, practical skills in software implementation and familiarity with working at the hardware/software boundary.

The role demands flexibility and lateral thinking. You will be working on both short-term customer-driven projects, as well as longer-term strategic Codasip software products.

While Codasip is headquartered in Europe, our approach and culture are typical of Silicon Valley, meaning that we value prudent risk taking and “out of the box” thinking.  We are a well-funded start-up poised for dynamic growth based on our leading edge product portfolio.

RISC-V is a revolutionary technology in the semiconductor industry. This role will have high impact and visibility in Codasip and in the growing RISC-V world.

Main responsibilities include:

• Design and evaluation of complex multi-domain system software architectures
• Developing low-level software in C/C++ and possibly in future Rust
• Developing proof-of-concepts and technology demonstrators of new technology
• Writing documentation and technical papers
• Providing technical software advice and expertise within Codasip
• Involvement with RISC-V International standardization efforts
• Researching and contributing new technology ideas into Labs

The core skills and competencies:

• A minimum of 5 years experience of embedded software development
• C or C++ programming experience
• Knowledge of high-level hardware microarchitecture and its effects on software performance
• Experience with OS (especially TEE OS) and/or hypervisor development
• Knowledge and experience with isolation technologies, such as Arm Trustzone or Intel SGX
• A flexible and adaptable attitude to work
• A desire to learn and also positively influence technical direction

The following skills and experience are highly desirable:

• Experience with RISC-V technologies
• Experience with different hardware architectures
• Exposure to Confidential Compute hardware and software architectures such as Arm CCA
• Knowledge of hardware and software security mechanisms
• Rust programming experience
• The ability to communicate effectively
• Experience of software innovation