Embedded Software Engineer

About the Role
Canaan Inc. is a leading RISC-V chip design company powering the world's most efficient Bitcoin mining machines. We're looking for a Senior Linux BSP Software Engineer — Mining Machine Software to lead the embedded software stack for our mining products. This role sits at the intersection of low-level BSP and high-performance distributed computing — you'll own the communication layer between mining machines and remote computing centers, optimize mining firmware performance, and drive integration with smart home device compute offloading where applicable.


Location: US Hybrid · San Francisco Bay Area preferre
dResponsibilitie
sMining Machine Embedded System Architecture — Lead the overall software architecture for Canaan mining machine products on RISC-V based SoCs; design for multi-tasking, real-time performance, and high reliability under sustained hash rate loa
dBoard Bring-up & BSP — Drive BSP development and maintenance for Canaan RISC-V mining chips; port and optimize U-Boot and Linux kernel for mining form factors; own boot time, security, and reliabilit
yDistributed Computing Communication — Design and maintain long-connection communication protocols with remote distributed computing centers; implement task dispatch, dynamic frequency tuning, throughput reporting, and heartbeat maintenance; optimize for high-concurrency, long-lived TCP connection
sIntelligent Control & Core Features — Implement precise control algorithms, multi-level power regulation, and comprehensive safety protection logic; optimize mining efficiency under power, thermal, and noise constraint
sHeterogeneous Computing Integration — Develop low-level drivers and task coordination for mining ASICs / co-processors integrated alongside RISC-V cores; implement IPC between main processor and dedicated compute unit
sSystem Optimization & Debugging — Performance analysis and bottleneck optimization (hash rate, power efficiency, thermal management); low-level issue troubleshooting (boot, memory, peripherals); chip validation and mass production yield improvemen
tSystem Security & Performance — Implement secure boot, device identity authentication, and communication encryption for mining fleet management; continuously optimize power consumption and memory footprin
tSmart Home Compute Offloading — Where applicable, enable mining machines to serve as distributed compute nodes supporting smart home device workloads; architect efficient task offloading and result return mechanism
sOpen Source Contribution — Drive and maintain open-source projects on GitHub; contribute upstream patches to Linux kernel, U-Boot, and related open-source project
sEngineering Collaboration — Define software architecture and technical roadmap; mentor junior engineers; work closely with hardware (RF, power, thermal), cloud infrastructure, and product teams; lead technical design review
sRequirement
sEssentia
lBachelor's degree or above in Computer Science, Electronics, Automation, or related fiel
d3+ years of embedded development experienc
eAt least one complete product cycle from concept to mass productio
nDeep familiarity with RISC-V or ARM Cortex series developmen
tExpert-level proficiency in Linux kernel principles and driver developmen
tProven track record with U-Boot porting and debuggin
gActive GitHub profile with proven open-source contribution histor
yHands-on experience with: UART, SPI, I2C · NAND/NOR Flash · Ethernet (MAC/PHY) · WiFi/BLE module
sStrong understanding of TCP/IP, MQTT, HTTP protocol stacks; experienced with long-connection, high-concurrency network communicatio
nExperience building up CD/CI pipelin
eExperience with open source projec
tNice to Hav
eExperience in Bitcoin miner or high-performance computing chip developmen
tExperience with distributed computing task scheduling or remote compute offloadin
gKnowledge of heterogeneous computing (MCU/DSP/ASIC/FPGA co-development
)Experience with RTOS (FreeRTOS / RT-Thread
)Familiar with Canaan RISC-V MCU development (K210, K230
)Knowledge of Yocto / OpenEmbedded build syste
mPatches or drivers merged into mainline Linux kernel, U-Boot, or other well-known open-source project
sTechnical Stac
k| Hardware | RISC-V / ARM Cortex-A / M
|| OS | Linux (Kernel 4.14+) / FreeRTOS / RT-Thread
|| Bootloader | U-Boot
|| Languages | C / C++ / Python / Shell
|| Toolchain | GCC (riscv64-unknown-elf)
|| Debug | GDB / J-Link / OpenOCD
|| Version Ctrl | Git / GitHub
|| Open Source | Linux Kernel, U-Boot, upstream contributions
|| Network | TCP/IP, MQTT, HTTPs, long-connection protocols

|
What We Off
erCompetitive salary and equity compensati
onOpportunity to work on world-leading Bitcoin mining hardware powered by Canaan RISC-V chi
psOpen and collaborative technical team culture with mentorship opportuniti
esFlexible working hours and remote work optio
nsConference attendance and training suppo
rtGitHub-backed development workflow with emphasis on open-source collaborati

on
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