H-1B Visa Firmware Jobs
Firmware engineering roles qualify as H-1B visa specialty occupations because they require at least a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or a closely related field. Employers file an I-129 petition with USCIS and a certified LCA with DOL before you can begin work. H-1B visa status is granted for up to three years, extendable to six.
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Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
Lightmatter is leading the revolution in AI data center infrastructure, enabling the next giant leaps in human progress. The company invented the world's first 3D-stacked photonics engine, Passage™, capable of connecting thousands to millions of processors at the speed of light in extreme-scale data centers for the most advanced AI and HPC workloads.
Lightmatter raised $400 million in its Series D round, reaching a valuation of $4.4 billion. We will continue to accelerate the development of data center photonics and grow every department at Lightmatter!
If you're passionate about tackling complex challenges, making an impact, and being an expert in your craft, join our team of brilliant scientists, engineers, and accomplished industry leaders.
Lightmatter is (re)inventing the future of computing with light!
ABOUT THIS ROLE
We are building System Level Test (SLT) for our next-generation high-speed optical interconnect products. This role involves bringing up and operating firmware on our test boards and the test platforms that run on top of it. SLT depends on loading the right firmware, bringing the device to a known state, and exercising it through its diagnostic interfaces. You will own that firmware layer for test, build the executive and datalog that make test flows repeatable and operator-runnable, and carry them from engineering bring-up through board-level test and transfer to manufacturing partners. This is a senior individual-contributor role on a small, growing team where you will have broad ownership and a direct hand in how our test platform is built.
Responsibilities
- Own firmware bring-up and integration on SLT boards: boot and image management across board and product variants, device initialization to a known state, diagnostic APIs, register-level read and write, mode and state control.
- Validate that each firmware release still provides the hooks test requires, and drive gaps to closure with the firmware team before they reach a test program.
- Own board-level functional test integration for assembled photonic boards: firmware load across multiple devices, calibration and device-programming content from design teams, pass/fail limits, retest policy, and dry-run controls around irreversible operations.
- Architect and build the SLT test executive: configuration-driven test sequences, instrument and device abstraction, guaranteed safe-state on abort, and a datalog with unit identity, test conditions, and results that supports comparison across time and test insertions.
- Build and operate continuous regression on bench hardware: scheduled runs, firmware and test-content change detection, and version control of test sequences and limits so a production flow is reproducible.
- Lead root cause of intermittent and order-dependent test failures, separating test-software, firmware, and hardware causes, and drive fixes with the owning teams.
- Produce operator procedures, test-plan and release documentation, and transfer packages that a technician or a manufacturing partner can execute without the author present.
- Set the software discipline for the team and mentor early-career engineers in test automation practice, code review, and documentation.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field with 8+ years of relevant experience
- Hands-on platform bring-up experience on embedded Linux hardware: boot sequence, boot-source and strap configuration, flash and memory initialization, bootloader and kernel, debugging with console, JTAG, and logs
- Experience validating firmware-level features across releases: image management across platform variants, upgrade and recovery, secure boot, warm restart and state preservation
- Built a test automation framework from the ground up for a hardware product and drove it to adoption as the daily regression for a team or organization
- Hardware-in-the-loop test experience with real devices under test, fixtures, and instruments, including fault injection and negative testing
- Strong Python scripting for test automation; comfortable in Linux command line, Git, and CI-integrated test execution
- Demonstrated ability to work from schematics and firmware interface specifications to derive test coverage for UART, I2C, SPI, and flash interfaces.
- Experience shipping hardware products through NPI gates (EVT, DVT, PVT) with ownership of test readiness.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Master's in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field with 6+ years of industry experience
- Experience with serial-link or network-port validation: link state, lane configuration, link flaps across restarts, port counters.
- Experience with telemetry and log pipelines for device diagnostics.
- Experience with factory or contract-manufacturer test handoff and sustaining.
- Exposure to optical, RF, or high-speed electrical measurement and instrument control.
- Experience with eFUSE or OTP programming controls, or other irreversible test steps.
The below salary range is a range that includes Staff and Sr Staff level.
BENEFITS
- Comprehensive Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
- Retirement Savings Matching Program
- Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
- Generous Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
- Paid Family Leave
- Short Term & Long Term Disability
- Training & Development
- Commuter Benefits
- Flexible, hybrid workplace model
- Equity grants (applicable to full-time employees)
Benefits eligibility may vary depending on your employment status and location. Lightmatter recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, veteran status, and other protected status as required by applicable law.
Export Control
Candidates should have capacity to comply with the federally mandated requirements of U.S. export control laws.
INTRODUCTION
Lightmatter is leading the revolution in AI data center infrastructure, enabling the next giant leaps in human progress. The company invented the world's first 3D-stacked photonics engine, Passage™, capable of connecting thousands to millions of processors at the speed of light in extreme-scale data centers for the most advanced AI and HPC workloads.
Lightmatter raised $400 million in its Series D round, reaching a valuation of $4.4 billion. We will continue to accelerate the development of data center photonics and grow every department at Lightmatter!
If you're passionate about tackling complex challenges, making an impact, and being an expert in your craft, join our team of brilliant scientists, engineers, and accomplished industry leaders.
Lightmatter is (re)inventing the future of computing with light!
ABOUT THIS ROLE
We are building System Level Test (SLT) for our next-generation high-speed optical interconnect products. This role involves bringing up and operating firmware on our test boards and the test platforms that run on top of it. SLT depends on loading the right firmware, bringing the device to a known state, and exercising it through its diagnostic interfaces. You will own that firmware layer for test, build the executive and datalog that make test flows repeatable and operator-runnable, and carry them from engineering bring-up through board-level test and transfer to manufacturing partners. This is a senior individual-contributor role on a small, growing team where you will have broad ownership and a direct hand in how our test platform is built.
Responsibilities
- Own firmware bring-up and integration on SLT boards: boot and image management across board and product variants, device initialization to a known state, diagnostic APIs, register-level read and write, mode and state control.
- Validate that each firmware release still provides the hooks test requires, and drive gaps to closure with the firmware team before they reach a test program.
- Own board-level functional test integration for assembled photonic boards: firmware load across multiple devices, calibration and device-programming content from design teams, pass/fail limits, retest policy, and dry-run controls around irreversible operations.
- Architect and build the SLT test executive: configuration-driven test sequences, instrument and device abstraction, guaranteed safe-state on abort, and a datalog with unit identity, test conditions, and results that supports comparison across time and test insertions.
- Build and operate continuous regression on bench hardware: scheduled runs, firmware and test-content change detection, and version control of test sequences and limits so a production flow is reproducible.
- Lead root cause of intermittent and order-dependent test failures, separating test-software, firmware, and hardware causes, and drive fixes with the owning teams.
- Produce operator procedures, test-plan and release documentation, and transfer packages that a technician or a manufacturing partner can execute without the author present.
- Set the software discipline for the team and mentor early-career engineers in test automation practice, code review, and documentation.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field with 8+ years of relevant experience
- Hands-on platform bring-up experience on embedded Linux hardware: boot sequence, boot-source and strap configuration, flash and memory initialization, bootloader and kernel, debugging with console, JTAG, and logs
- Experience validating firmware-level features across releases: image management across platform variants, upgrade and recovery, secure boot, warm restart and state preservation
- Built a test automation framework from the ground up for a hardware product and drove it to adoption as the daily regression for a team or organization
- Hardware-in-the-loop test experience with real devices under test, fixtures, and instruments, including fault injection and negative testing
- Strong Python scripting for test automation; comfortable in Linux command line, Git, and CI-integrated test execution
- Demonstrated ability to work from schematics and firmware interface specifications to derive test coverage for UART, I2C, SPI, and flash interfaces.
- Experience shipping hardware products through NPI gates (EVT, DVT, PVT) with ownership of test readiness.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Master's in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field with 6+ years of industry experience
- Experience with serial-link or network-port validation: link state, lane configuration, link flaps across restarts, port counters.
- Experience with telemetry and log pipelines for device diagnostics.
- Experience with factory or contract-manufacturer test handoff and sustaining.
- Exposure to optical, RF, or high-speed electrical measurement and instrument control.
- Experience with eFUSE or OTP programming controls, or other irreversible test steps.
The below salary range is a range that includes Staff and Sr Staff level.
BENEFITS
- Comprehensive Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
- Retirement Savings Matching Program
- Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
- Generous Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
- Paid Family Leave
- Short Term & Long Term Disability
- Training & Development
- Commuter Benefits
- Flexible, hybrid workplace model
- Equity grants (applicable to full-time employees)
Benefits eligibility may vary depending on your employment status and location. Lightmatter recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, veteran status, and other protected status as required by applicable law.
Export Control
Candidates should have capacity to comply with the federally mandated requirements of U.S. export control laws.
See all 163+ H-1B Visa Firmware Jobs
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding H-1B Visa Sponsorship in Firmware
Map your degree to firmware SOC codes
Pull the O*NET profile for Electrical and Electronics Engineers or Computer Hardware Engineers before applying. Confirm your degree field aligns with the listed education requirements, since USCIS scrutinizes specialty occupation evidence most heavily when the degree is in a tangentially related field.
Get your LCA worksite details right
Each physical worksite needs its own certified LCA before you start work there. If your firmware role involves on-site work at a client's facility or a secondary lab location, tell your employer before the LCA is filed, not after.
Target employers with dedicated immigration counsel
Firmware teams at defense contractors, semiconductor companies, and medical device manufacturers file H-1B petitions routinely and have in-house or retained immigration attorneys. Smaller embedded-systems shops may be willing but lack the infrastructure, so ask directly about their sponsorship process during the offer stage.
Use Migrate Mate to find verified H-1B sponsors
Search Migrate Mate for firmware and embedded systems roles at employers with verified H-1B LCA filing history. This narrows your list to companies that have already navigated DOL and USCIS requirements for roles like yours, cutting time spent on employers who have never sponsored.
Verify prevailing wage before negotiating your offer
Run your job title, SOC code, and worksite ZIP through the OFLC Wage Search to find the applicable wage level before you discuss compensation. Your employer's LCA must certify a wage at or above that level, so knowing the floor in advance prevents offer mismatches that delay or derail filing.
Prepare a specialty occupation evidence packet early
Compile job postings for similar firmware roles that list a specific degree requirement, your official transcripts, and a detailed description of your embedded systems duties. USCIS may issue a Request for Evidence on specialty occupation, and having this documentation ready shortens your employer's response window significantly.
H-1B Visa Firmware: Frequently Asked Questions
Does a firmware engineering role qualify as an H-1B specialty occupation?
Yes. Firmware engineering typically qualifies because the work requires at least a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or computer science. The role involves low-level hardware-software integration, embedded systems design, and real-time operating constraints that demand that specific theoretical foundation. Your employer documents this in the I-129 petition, supported by the job description and your credentials.
Which employers sponsor H-1B visas for firmware engineers?
Semiconductor manufacturers, defense electronics contractors, medical device companies, and consumer electronics firms are consistent H-1B sponsors for firmware roles. These industries file LCAs regularly for embedded systems and hardware engineers. Migrate Mate lists employers with verified H-1B filing history for firmware and related engineering titles, so you can focus your search on companies already familiar with the sponsorship process.
What happens to my H-1B status if I move to a new worksite mid-project?
Your employer must file a new certified LCA for each worksite where you perform H-1B duties before you begin working there. For firmware engineers who rotate between a main office and a client's manufacturing floor or test lab, this is a common compliance gap. Short-term placements have limited exceptions, but ongoing work at an unlisted site is not covered by the original LCA.
How long does H-1B sponsorship last for a firmware role?
USCIS grants initial H-1B status for up to three years. Your employer can file an extension petition to reach the six-year statutory maximum. Beyond six years, continued H-1B extensions are only available if you have an approved I-140 immigrant petition or a PERM labor certification that has been pending for at least 365 days, depending on which AC21 provision applies.
Can my H-1B employer change my firmware job duties without refiling?
Material changes to your job duties, title, or worksite location require an amended I-129 petition filed with USCIS before the change takes effect. If your firmware role expands from device-level code to system architecture or shifts to a different product line with distinct skill requirements, that likely qualifies as a material change. Minor task variations within the same specialty occupation description generally do not trigger an amendment.