Senior Hardware Security Engineer

About Lime

A Time Magazine 100 Most Influential Company, Lime has powered more than one billion rides in close to 30 countries across five continents, spurring a new generation of clean alternatives to car ownership. Learn more at li.me.

Lime is seeking an experienced Senior Hardware Security Engineer to join our Product Security team. In this role, you'll be a foundational member of our hardware security efforts, directly contributing to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of Lime's hardware and firmware platforms. You will report to the Director of Security and play a key role in building out our hardware security program across our micromobility product portfolio.

We're a fast-paced, lean, and remote-first company, so we're looking for someone who thrives in an evolving environment, is a proactive problem-solver, and is passionate about building scalable and robust security solutions for embedded systems and physical products. This role is a fantastic opportunity for someone who wants to make a significant impact and help shape the future of hardware security at Lime.

This is a remote position with a requirement for candidates to reside in the United States to maintain effective collaboration across teams.

This position requires occasional travel to support business operations, which is considered an essential function of the role. Lime will provide reasonable accommodations as needed.

What You'll Do

Security Architecture & Design: Contribute to hardware security architecture reviews for product platforms, providing security input on secure boot chains, hardware roots of trust, trusted execution environments (TEEs), and cryptographic implementations. Evaluate silicon and SoC security properties through vendor assessment, datasheet review, black-box testing, and security characterization of off-the-shelf and custom components. Research and evaluate emerging hardware security technologies (e.g., confidential computing, post-quantum cryptographic hardware, hardware-backed attestation) and provide recommendations to the team.

Threat Modeling & Risk Assessment: Conduct threat modeling exercises for hardware and firmware components, identifying attack surfaces across the product stack. Perform security risk assessments for new and existing hardware designs, quantifying risk and recommending mitigations with clear priority and business context. Communicate hardware security tradeoffs clearly to engineering peers and product stakeholders.

Security Assessment & Testing: Perform hands-on security assessments of hardware platforms, including side-channel analysis, fault injection testing, firmware reverse engineering, and debug interface evaluation. Contribute to building and maintaining a hardware security testing methodology and lab environment, including tooling for automated and repeatable assessments. Participate in vulnerability management for hardware and firmware components, including coordinating disclosure, remediation tracking, and validation of fixes.

Firmware & Platform Security: Develop firmware hardening recommendations and work with firmware engineering teams to implement secure boot, firmware update integrity, tamper detection and runtime protection mechanisms across product platforms. Contribute to security standards for embedded systems, microcontrollers, and platform firmware across the product portfolio. Work with platform teams to review hardware-software interfaces (e.g., UEFI, BMC, TPM interactions) for security concerns.

Incident Response & Forensics: Participate in incident response efforts for hardware and firmware security incidents, contributing to investigation, root-cause analysis, and corrective action to prevent recurrence.

Tooling & Automation: Develop and maintain automated security tooling for hardware and firmware analysis, vulnerability scanning, and compliance validation. Contribute to defining security gates within CI/CD and build pipelines for firmware, working with DevOps and firmware teams to support automated enforcement before production release.

Standards, Policy & Compliance: Contribute to hardware security standards, policies, and procedures that align with industry frameworks (e.g., NIST SP 800-193, Common Criteria, FIPS 140, IEC 62443). Support product security certifications and compliance efforts where hardware security attestation is required. Stay current with the evolving hardware threat landscape, supply chain security concerns, and regulatory requirements.

Collaboration & Mentorship: Serve as a subject matter expert on hardware security within the product security team, providing technical guidance to engineering peers. Share knowledge and help develop junior team members' hardware security skills through assessment reviews and design reviews. Help drive adoption of hardware security best practices within your project scope through clear documentation and hands-on support.

Stay Ahead of Threats: Continuously research and evaluate emerging hardware security threats, technologies, and best practices to recommend new approaches and solutions.

Travel: This role requires up to 10% of travel within EMEA and North America.

About You

Experience: 5+ years of experience in a dedicated hardware or firmware security engineering role, with a strong focus on embedded systems, platform security, or product security.

Technical Depth: Demonstrated expertise across hardware security domains, with strong proficiency in at least one or two specialized sub-disciplines:

• Firmware security: Secure boot, trusted execution environments (TEEs), firmware integrity, secure update mechanisms
• Platform security: Hardware root of trust, TPM/secure enclaves, cryptographic implementations, SoC security properties
• Physical attack assessment: Fault injection, side-channel analysis, hardware reverse engineering, debug interface security
• Embedded systems security: Microcontroller hardening, RTOS security, hardware-software interface security

Working familiarity across other hardware security domains and eagerness to grow breadth over time.

Hands-On Skills: Practical experience with hardware security testing methodologies, tools, and lab equipment. Ability to perform black-box security characterization, vulnerability assessment, and security validation of hardware components and firmware.

Problem-Solver: Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with a proven ability to troubleshoot complex hardware security issues and propose effective, practical solutions that balance security with product requirements.

Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical hardware security concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences, including engineering peers and product stakeholders.

Team Player: Ability to work independently and as part of a lean, highly collaborative team, comfortable with remote work environments and cross-functional collaboration with firmware, hardware, and platform engineering teams.

Startup Mindset: Experience or comfort working in a dynamic, fast-paced startup or high-growth environment where you'll need to build processes and programs from the ground up.

Continuous Learner: Passion for hardware security and a commitment to staying current with the latest hardware security trends, attack techniques, and defensive technologies.

Education & Certifications: Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, or a related field is preferred but not required. Relevant industry certifications such as GIAC Reverse Engineering Malware (GREM), Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP), or hardware-focused security certifications are a plus.

U.S. Based Position - What We Offer

Comprehensive Health & Wellness: A choice of medical, dental, and vision plans. We also provide company-paid life and disability insurance and company-funded mental health benefits.

Financial & Retirement Planning: 401(k) plan with both pre-tax and Roth options, and access to a Health Savings Account (HSA) with a monthly company contribution.

Family & Fertility Support: Paid parental leave for birthing and non-birthing parents, plus fertility and family-forming benefits.

Paid Time Off: Unlimited vacation, paid leaves, and 10 company holidays.

Unique Lime Perks: Complimentary use of Lime vehicles in participating cities, a monthly phone allowance, dedicated learning and development days, and access to perks including One Medical, Wellhub, and Headspace.

The base salary range listed reflects what Lime reasonably expects to offer for this role, with the final base salary determined by objective factors such as the candidate’s location and relevant skills and experience. Depending on the position, the total compensation package may also include discretionary annual performance bonus opportunities and equity, subject to applicable plan terms and eligibility requirements.

Lime considers all qualified applicants for employment, including those with arrest or conviction records, in accordance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the California Fair Chance Act, and all other applicable federal, state, and local laws.

If you want to make an impact, Lime is the place for you. Not sure if you meet all the qualifications? If this role excites you we encourage you to apply. Explore all opportunities on our career page.

Lime is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe different perspectives help us grow and achieve more. That’s why we’re dedicated to building and developing a team that reflects a wider range of backgrounds, abilities, identities, and experiences. If you require a reasonable accommodation during the application or hiring process, please email recruiting-operations@li.me for assistance.

Compensation Range: $160K - $220K

Key skills/competency

• Hardware Security Engineering
• Firmware Security
• Embedded Systems Security
• Threat Modeling
• Risk Assessment
• Security Architecture
• Side-Channel Analysis
• Fault Injection
• Firmware Reverse Engineering
• Vulnerability Management