Experience Level: 3+ Years

Role Type: Individual Contributor

Location: Pune / Bangalore / Hyderabad

Position Summary

We are looking for a Flash / SSD Firmware Validation Engineer with solid experience in NAND Flash,

SSD/Storage systems, Firmware Validation, and Test Automation. The ideal candidate has hands-on experience validating firmware for Flash-based storage devices/controllers, with a good understanding of the Flash Translation Layer (FTL), NAND Flash management, storage system architecture, and firmware behavior. The candidate should be comfortable developing and executing validation tests using C and Python, creating detailed test plans, automating test scenarios, analyzing failures, and working closely with firmware/hardware teams to identify root causes.

Candidates with relevant experience at NAND Flash / SSD / semiconductor organizations such as Samsung, Micron, or SanDisk/Western Digital are particularly relevant.

Key Responsibilities

•Validate firmware functionality for Flash/SSD storage controllers and systems, covering functional,

negative, stress, endurance, and corner-case scenarios across NAND configurations and capacities.

•Validate Flash Translation Layer (FTL) functionality including logical-to-physical address mapping,

garbage collection, wear leveling, bad-block management, read/write management, data integrity,

error handling/recovery, and power-loss/recovery scenarios.

•Analyze NAND-related failures and correlate firmware behavior with NAND/device-level behavior;

validate firmware across different NAND conditions and failure scenarios.

•Validate storage systems involving PCIe/NVMe and associated firmware/software stacks, including host-to-controller interactions, workloads, queue depths, power states, and error conditions.

•Develop detailed test plans, test cases,



and validation reports; run functional and regression testing for new firmware releases.

•Develop C/Python-based validation tools and automated regression suites; parse logs, classify failures, and generate validation reports and metrics.

•Reproduce and root-cause intermittent firmware failures, correlating across host → PCIe/NVMe →

controller → firmware → FTL → NAND, and work with firmware developers to isolate and validate fixes.

Required Technical Skills

•Strong understanding of NAND Flash, Flash-based storage systems, SSD architecture, and SSD firmware.

•Hands-on experience with FTL or Flash management firmware, and firmware validation/testing of

Flash, SSD, or storage controllers.

•Strong hands-on C programming (pointers, structures, memory management, bit manipulation) for reading and developing validation/test code.

•Hands-on Python programming for test automation, log parsing, and result analysis.

•Experience creating test plans/cases, executing firmware validation and regression testing, and performing failure analysis and defect tracking.

•Working knowledge of PCIe and preferably NVMe, and understanding of firmware-hardware interaction.

Preferred Skills

•PCIe/NVMe protocol validation, NAND Flash characterization, ONFI/Toggle NAND interfaces, and

NAND/SSD controller architecture.

•Error correction / ECC, LDPC / BCH concepts, RAID/data protection, and power-loss protection and recovery.





•Secure boot, data encryption / AES, security IPs, key management, and hardware security modules.

•Storage performance characterization, stress and endurance testing, and Linux-based storage environments.

•JTAG / GDB-based debugging, logic analyzer / protocol analyzer experience, and Jenkins or CI/CD-

based regression testing.

Education

•B.E. / B.Tech / M.E. / M.Tech in Electronics, Electrical, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related discipline.

•Relevant industry experience may be considered in lieu of specific academic specialization.

Project Experience

•3+ years of hands-on firmware validation experience in NAND Flash/SSD/storage-controller organizations.

•Demonstrated ownership of a validation area across the lifecycle: requirement → test plan → test development → automation → execution → failure analysis → defect → regression.

Soft Skills

•Strong debugging and analytical mindset for correlating failures across firmware, FTL, NAND,

controller hardware, and interface layers.

•Ability to work closely with firmware/hardware teams and take independent ownership of a validation area.

•Clear documentation of failure symptoms, reproduction steps, and RCA conclusions.

Good to Have

•Experience with enterprise or client SSD product lines.

•Embedded firmware development, firmware bring-up, or boot/ initialization sequence experience.

•Reusable Python-based test automation framework development experience.

Expected Deliverables

•Firmware validation test plans, test cases, and automated regression suites (C/Python).

•Failure analysis and root-cause reports with reproduction steps.

•Validation reports, metrics, and defect-tracking records.

📌 Flash / SSD Firmware Validation Engineer (Pune)
🏢 Iravan Technologies
📍 Pune