Principal Engineer - SoC Offensive Security

Job Description:
The Security Research and Response team in Arm's Architecture and Technology group is seeking a highly skilled SoC Security Principal Engineer to drive offensive security analysis across Arm's next-generation solutions, identifying design and integration-level vulnerabilities early.
You will act as the dedicated adversarial security expert across projects, assessing architectural specifications, probing pre/post-silicon platforms, conducting firmware analysis, and interact with developing teams to creatively explore weaknesses that traditional SDL processes may overlook. You will directly influence the security robustness of Arm's most strategic silicon initiatives.
Responsibilities:• Perform adversarial, exploratory security analysis of SoC and chiplet architectures, focusing on identifying unknown or emergent vulnerabilities (pre silicon and post silicon).• Identify and engage at the most impactful points of the development lifecycle, to review micro architecture specifications, architectural/security assumptions, and RTL implementations.• Conduct design reviews, discussion workshops, and focused hackathons to come up with new threat scenarios, perform adversarial testing, and improve security models.• Demonstrate practical security impact of vulnerabilities, e.g., by writing Proof-of-Concepts (PoCs).• Investigate multi-stage and cross component attack chains beyond what is captured in threat models or standard verification flows.• Lead collaborations with internal teams to speed up adversarial analysis and mitigation identification. • Provide guidance to improve future threat modeling, mitigation design, and security architecture.• Shape strategies and methodologies for systematic offensive security and scaling their application across Arm programs.
Required Skills and Experience:• Strong knowledge of computer architecture (preferably Arm), micro architectural attack surfaces, and SoC integration security challenges.• Demonstrated experience conducting adversarial security research (PoCs, exploits, CTFs, published work).• Practical experience with RTL (Verilog/SystemVerilog) or other pre silicon verification environments from a security perspective.• Hands-on lab experience setting up development and testing platforms, delivering security evaluations, and validating findings in practical environments.• Firmware security analysis experience on projects like UEFI, uBoot, Trusted Firmware or similar.• Experience with security focused specifications and standards such as Caliptra, DICE, or related attestation and hardware root-of trust standards.• Strong, determined problem solving outlook with creative security mentality.• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence design teams and clearly articulate risk and recommendations.• Ability to independently lead complex investigations across multiple concurrent projects.
"Nice To Have" Skills and Experience:• Experience with hardware fuzzing and software exploitation techniques.• Familiarity with bus/interconnect protocols (AMBA, CXL, PCIe, etc.).• Reverse engineering skills for hardware, firmware, or microarchitecture.• Contributions to open standards bodies or participation in security-focused special interest groups (e.g., industry working groups, architecture forums).
In Return:
You will join a team of hard-working security engineers at the forefront of identifying vulnerabilities in Arm based systems. Your work will shape the security posture of silicon programs and provide opportunities to influence architectural direction, collaborate with extraordinary engineers, and conduct hands-on offensive security research.
This role offers a unique opportunity to have direct impact on silicon designs, contribute to industry leading security practices, and help ensure Arm's next generation of solutions are robust against evolving adversaries. Arm is proud to foster an inclusive, diverse, and collaborative environment where your expertise and creativity will be valued.
Salary Range:
$241,100-$326,100 per year
We value people as individuals and our dedication is to reward people competitively and equitably for the work they do and the skills and experience they bring to Arm. Salary is only one component of Arm's offering. The total reward package will be shared with candidates during the recruitment and selection process.
Accommodations at Arm
At Arm, we want to build extraordinary teams. If you need an adjustment or an accommodation during the recruitment process, please email [email protected] . To note, by sending us the requested information, you consent to its use by Arm to arrange for appropriate accommodations. All accommodation or adjustment requests will be treated with confidentiality, and information concerning these requests will only be disclosed as necessary to provide the accommodation. Although this is not an exhaustive list, examples of support include breaks between interviews, having documents read aloud, or office accessibility. Please email us about anything we can do to accommodate you during the recruitment process.
Hybrid Working at Arm
Arm's approach to hybrid working is designed to create a working environment that supports both high performance and personal wellbeing. We believe in bringing people together face to face to enable us to work at pace, whilst recognizing the value of flexibility. Within that framework, we empower groups/teams to determine their own hybrid working patterns, depending on the work and the team's needs. Details of what this means for each role will be shared upon application. In some cases, the flexibility we can offer is limited by local legal, regulatory, tax, or other considerations, and where this is the case, we will collaborate with you to find the best solution. Please talk to us to find out more about what this could look like for you.
Equal Opportunities at Arm
Arm is an equal opportunity employer, committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal opportunities are available to all applicants and colleagues. We are a diverse organization of dedicated and innovative individuals, and don't discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.