---
title: 'Principal Edge AI Firmware Engineer at Ambiq Micro, Inc.'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/principal-edge-ai-firmware-engineer-ambiq-micro-inc-austin-texas-4rjfaee02ywa'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-12'
---

# Principal Edge AI Firmware Engineer at Ambiq Micro, Inc.

- **Company:** Ambiq Micro, Inc.
- **Location:** Austin Texas, United States
- **Posted:** 2026-06-01
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-12
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/ambiqmicroinc/jobs/4257766009

## Job description

Company Overview

Ambiq is on a mission to enable intelligence everywhere — powering the AI edge revolution with the world's lowest-power semiconductor solutions.

Built on our proprietary sub- and near-threshold technology, our chips deliver multi-fold improvements in energy efficiency without costly process scaling. Since 2010, we've shipped over 300 million units to customers building smarter wearables, medical devices, IoT products, and AI-powered edge applications.

Our cross-functional teams span design, research, development, production, marketing, sales, and operations across Austin, Hsinchu, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Singapore. We move fast, tackle hard problems, and create space for people to grow through complex, meaningful work that shapes the future of technology.

We're looking for self-motivated, creative problem-solvers who are eager to push technological limits and make a real impact in energy efficiency.

At Ambiq, we live by five values: Innovate. Collaborate. Focus. Learn. Achieve.

If that's you, join us — the intelligence everywhere revolution starts here.

Scope

Ambiq is seeking an Edge AI Firmware Engineer to build and optimize the embedded software stack that powers real-time, battery-powered on-device AI. You will develop Ambiq’s AI runtimes, performance-critical operator libraries, and profiling/debug tooling that enable customers to deploy efficient inference on resource-constrained devices.

While the cloud has been the default home for AI, the next frontier is distributing intelligence everywhere—directly onto real-world devices. Edge AI enables real-time responsiveness, stronger privacy, lower bandwidth cost, and reliable operation even without connectivity. This role helps accelerate the shift to on-device intelligence across a rapidly growing ecosystem of health and fitness wearables, smart glasses, industrial IoT, and always-on sensors.

You’ll work closely with platform, silicon, and applied ML teams—and directly with customers—to ensure our software extracts maximum performance and energy efficiency from Ambiq hardware while remaining easy to integrate into production embedded toolchains.

## Responsibilities

- Develop and support Ambiq’s embedded AI runtimes (HeliaRT—our fork/extension of TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers—and HeliaAOT) with focus on portability, correctness, performance, and usability.
- Implement and optimize ML operator kernels and embedded libraries for on-chip acceleration (DSP, vector, NPU), including HeliaDSP and HeliaCore components.
- Build and maintain on-device profiling and performance analysis tools, including tools that convert PMU counters into actionable insights.
- Drive improvements in latency, memory footprint, and energy (e.g., joules/inference) through compute/bandwidth and memory-hierarchy analysis.
- Develop benchmark harnesses, microbenchmarks, and regression tests to ensure numerical correctness and prevent performance regressions.
- Enable seamless customer integration across embedded environments and toolchains (bare metal, FreeRTOS, Zephyr).
- Improve memory planning/runtime efficiency and manage upstream/fork health; publish and maintain customer-facing assets (docs, guides, examples, benchmarks).

## Qualifications

- BS in Electrical/Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field + 12+ years relevant experience (or equivalent practical experience). MS is a plus, especially in embedded systems, compilers, computer architecture, or ML systems.
- Strong experience designing, developing, and testing embedded software in C/C++.
- Strong debugging discipline with an emphasis on correctness, reproducibility, and performance regression prevention.
- Solid understanding of compute, memory, and bandwidth/cache effects on deterministic latency and energy efficiency in constrained systems.
- Ability to interpret hardware/software documentation (datasheets, reference manuals; schematics a plus).
- Proficiency with Git (or equivalent version control).
- Efficient use of AI-assisted development tools to improve productivity while maintaining engineering rigor.
- Experience with embedded development workflows: Arm toolchains, GDB + J-Link/SEGGER-class probes, and CMake/Make build systems.

Nice to have:

- Python for profiling/analysis tooling, automation, and developer utilities.
- Rust experience.
- Familiarity with TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers (or similar embedded inference runtimes).
- Experience optimizing for embedded acceleration targets (e.g., DSP, vector extensions, NPU).
- Familiarity with CMSIS-NN, CMSIS-DSP, and/or Vela (or similar).
- Working knowledge of quantized inference (e.g., int8, per-channel) and embedded debugging implications.
- Packaging/integration (e.g., CMSIS-Pack/CPM.cmake) and/or lab measurement experience (power/debug with basic bench tools).

Must be currently authorized to work in the United States for any employer.

## About Ambiq Micro, Inc.

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Ambiq develops ultra-low-power semiconductor platforms and system-on-chip (SoC) solutions that enable edge AI on battery-powered devices.
- **Entity Type**: Public (NYSE: $AMBQ, as of July 30, 2025)
- **Headquarters**: Austin, Texas, USA (with offices in Hsinchu, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Singapore)
- **Founded**: 2010
- **Founders**: Dr. Scott Hanson (current CTO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Semiconductor / Ultra-Low-Power Integrated Circuits / Edge AI Hardware
- **Target customers**: B2B — OEMs and device manufacturers building wearables, smart glasses, smart home devices, healthcare monitors, industrial sensors, and IoT products
- **Mission statement**: To enable intelligence (AI and beyond) everywhere by delivering the lowest-power semiconductor solutions on the planet.

## Products & Services
- **SPOT® Platform**: Proprietary, patented Subthreshold Power Optimized Technology that operates below 1V, delivering a quadratic improvement in energy efficiency vs. traditional designs. This is the core differentiator enabling complex AI at the edge.
- **Apollo SoC Family**: System-on-Chip solutions now in their 5th generation. Flagship products include Apollo510, Apollo510B, ApolloD Lite, and Apollo330M Plus. Designed for wearables, smart glasses, smart home, healthcare, and industrial use.
- **Atomiq SoC Family**: Additional SoC offerings for edge AI applications.
- **Real-Time Clock (RTC) Products**: Standalone ultra-low-power timing solutions.
- **Developer Tools**: Evaluation boards, display kits, debugger tools, and accompanying software/AI developer solutions.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: $1 billion valuation (pre-IPO); Market cap post-IPO not publicly disclosed in available sources.
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of over $700 million raised prior to IPO; 290 million devices sold as of early 2026.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Raised over $700M in capital; led by CEO Fumihide Esaka who previously led Transphorm and NIEC. Specific institutional investors not detailed in available materials.
- **Growth Signals**: Went public on NYSE in July 2025; sold 290M devices (up from 270M at the start of 2025); won Embedded World Best in Show and AI Excellence Awards in 2025; IoT Semiconductor Company of the Year (3rd time).

## Competitive Advantages
- **SPOT® Technology Moat**: Proprietary subthreshold operation below 1V provides a fundamental physics-based power advantage that competitors cannot easily replicate — a 10x power reduction vs. competing MCU solutions.
- **Massive Installed Base**: 290 million devices shipped creates strong switching costs and ecosystem lock-in for customers.
- **Edge AI Leadership**: Enables always-on AI inference on battery-powered devices where thermal and power constraints make traditional chips unusable.
- **Patented Platform**: Extensive patent portfolio protecting the SPOT technology.

## Strategic Focus
- **Edge AI Expansion**: Continuing to push larger and more complex AI models onto battery-powered edge devices.
- **Market Diversification**: Growing beyond wearables into smart glasses, healthcare, smart home, and industrial IoT.
- **Public Company Growth**: Leveraging IPO capital (July 2025) to scale R&D, sales, and global operations.
- **Fifth-Generation SoCs**: Rolling out Apollo5 series with enhanced AI capabilities and broader customer adoption.

## Why Work Here
- **Cutting-Edge Technology**: Work on the frontier of ultra-low-power semiconductor design and edge AI — a niche with massive growth potential.
- **Collaborative Culture**: Company values emphasize innovation, collaboration, focus, learning, and achievement. Diverse, global team across Austin, Hsinchu, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Singapore.
- **Growth & Learning**: Mentorship programs, continuous learning opportunities, and clear career development paths. Strong emphasis on hiring for a "learning mindset."
- **Benefits**: Medical, dental, vision, identity protection, 401K, and paid time off (varies by region).
- **Work Environment**: Mix of on-site and remote roles (e.g., Field Application Engineer roles list "Remote Employee" for Central and West Coast US). 33 open positions as of mid-2026 across hardware design, software, AI, embedded systems, sales, and operations.
- **Diversity & Inclusion**: Explicit commitment to creating an inclusive environment and hiring from diverse backgrounds.

## Sources
1. [ambiq.com](https://ambiq.com/)
2. [ambiq.com/about-us](https://www.ambiq.com/about-us/)
3. [ambiq.com/careers](https://ambiq.com/careers/)
4. [ir.ambiq.com](https://ir.ambiq.com/overview/default.aspx)
5. [job-boards.greenhouse.io/ambiqmicroinc](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/ambiqmicroinc)

## Other roles at Ambiq Micro, Inc.

- [Sr. Director, SoC Architecture](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-director-soc-architecture-ambiq-micro-inc-austin-texas-sqzb3rrwke00) — Austin Texas, United States
- [Sr. Engineer - Analog Validation](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-engineer-analog-validation-ambiq-micro-inc-austin-texas-cc993gmmgtdj) — Austin Texas, United States
- [Staff Applications Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-applications-software-engineer-ambiq-micro-inc-singapore-frtk4qhmt1k1) — Singapore
- [Staff Applications Hardware Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-applications-hardware-engineer-ambiq-micro-inc-austin-texas-eaqvym6tpbb1) — Austin Texas, United States
- [Sr. Staff Engineer - Digital Design Verification](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-staff-engineer-digital-design-verification-ambiq-micro-inc-austin-texas-pebh77yajmq7) — Austin Texas, United States
- [Sr. Staff SoC Power & Performance Architect](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-staff-soc-power-performance-architect-ambiq-micro-inc-austin-texas-dwbapwmszy1j) — Austin Texas, United States
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- [HW System/SoC Architect](https://feeny.ai/job/hw-system-soc-architect-ambiq-micro-inc-singapore-nghfwvt65bq2) — Singapore
- [Sr. Staff SoC RTL Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-staff-soc-rtl-engineer-ambiq-micro-inc-austin-texas-sc5gp5823b0f) — Austin Texas, United States
- [Staff Engineer, Product Test Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-engineer-product-test-engineering-ambiq-micro-inc-hsinchu-city-yqyxdzyppv8n) — Hsinchu City, Taiwan