Apple
Firmware Security Researcher, SEAR
$129K–$225K
Cupertino, California · Full-time · Posted Jul 16, 2026
About the job
Researches firmware and platform security, identifies vulnerabilities, develops defensive technologies, and coordinates security mitigations with engineering teams.
What you'll do
- Evaluate security-critical product features and systems, from architecture and code to circuit layout.
- Develop automated security analysis tools, identify threats, and drive mitigations.
- Assess existing protections through evaluation and proof-of-concept exploitation; reverse engineer exploits when necessary.
What they ask for
- Familiarity with firmware and embedded system technologies.
- Experience with secure programming and code auditing.
- Knowledge of modern anti-exploitation mitigations and their effectiveness.
- Background in firmware or systems programming, ideally in C, C++, or another systems programming language; excellent communication skills.
Nice to have
- Enthusiasm for using AI in security engineering; proficiency with threat modelling complex systems.
- Background in software exploitation; familiarity with operating system internals, especially macOS, iOS, or other flavours of UNIX; experience with memory safe programming languages and/or techniques.
Pay
$129,300 and $225,300 USD base salary
Tools
C, C++, macOS, iOS, UNIX
AI focus
Preferred interest in using AI to fundamentally change security engineering.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative