Staff Software Application Engineer

The Role

SiFive is looking for a Staff Software Applications Engineer to join our Customer Experience organization. In this role, you will work directly with customers to help them successfully design with SiFive IP, and help support and maintain datacenter hardware development platforms. Responsibilities include serving as a trusted technical contact internally across engineering, sales, and marketing. SiFive’s Applications Engineer roles focus on customer success, software issue resolution, technical escalation, training, and improving documentation and knowledge sharing.

This is a staff-level individual contributor role for someone who has demonstrated clear and consistent technical knowledge, strong customer-facing judgment, and the ability to work closely with others to solve complex technical problems.

Responsibilities

• Support customers using SiFive IP and help resolve software issues involving simulations, toolchains, firmware, and operating systems.
• Serve as the technical escalation point for customer issues and represent customer needs internally.
• Help customers understand the technical specifications and usage of SiFive’s datacenter solutions, create and provide demonstrations, and continually improve the software and documentation surrounding this large project.
• Characterize various performance metrics and run benchmarks on different platforms including simulation, emulation, and real silicon.
• Collaborate with engineering, sales, and marketing to communicate product value and solve technical issues.
• Create and present customer trainings and enablement sessions, and provide hands-on demonstrations using debuggers, board hardware, and other electronic devices when necessary.
• Improve documentation, write application notes, and contribute to knowledge-base content.
• Lead by example on difficult customer problems, sharing best practices and demonstrating close collaboration with the rest of the application engineering team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of relevant experience, including customer-facing technical support or applications engineering experience.
• Strong background in computer architecture and software development with C/C++/assembly.
• Familiarity with GNU tools, debugger software and hardware, Debug and Trace, Linux kernel, and at least one RTOS.
• Experience with Linux, Git, Jira, and Confluence.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, with the ability to deliver training and explain complex technical topics clearly.
• Self-starter, fast learner, and strong problem solver.

Preferred Experience

• Previous experience supporting semiconductor IP or processor customers, including waveform analysis, visual trace tools, and instruction logs.
• Knowledge of server hardware, Linux distributions, and software development on this type of platform.
• Experience influencing cross-functional decisions without direct management authority.
• Comfort working at a staff level engineer as a technical confidant and trusted contributor.

Why SiFive

SiFive is the pioneer of commercial RISC-V processor IP, and our work spans high-performance, low-power compute across multiple applications and markets. We offer a flexible work environment, generous time off, and an employee stock option program.

SiFive is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable accommodation during the application and interview process.