Senior Hardware Security Researcher

Technology Innovation Institute (TII) is a publicly funded research institute, based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is home to a diverse community of leading scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and researchers from across the globe, transforming problems and roadblocks into pioneering research and technology prototypes that help move society ahead.

Artificial Intelligence and Digital Research Centre

This role is part of TII’s Cryptography Labs Hardware team.

Job Title: Senior Hardware Security Researcher 

Key Responsibilities

· Conduct hardware and firmware security assessments, combining physical and logical attack techniques to identify and exploit vulnerabilities.

· Perform memory extraction from Flash, EEPROM, NOR/NAND, or other storage devices.

· Reverse engineer firmware and binaries using tools such as Ghidra, IDA Pro, Binary Ninja, or radare2 to uncover security weaknesses.

· Implement and automate custom test benches and toolchains for HW/SW analysis.

· Execute and analyse side-channel attacks (CPA, DPA, EM, timing, TVLA) and fault injection campaigns (voltage glitching, EMFI, laser) on embedded targets.

· Analyse secure boot, cryptographic primitives, and firmware protection mechanisms to identify design and implementation weaknesses.

· Interface with embedded systems through JTAG, SWD, UART, SPI, and similar debug or communication protocols.

· Deliver clear, well-documented technical reports.

Required Qualifications

· At least 5 years of experience of hands-on experience in hardware or embedded system security, covering both physical and logical attack surfaces.

· Proven experience performing firmware extraction and analysis (memory dumping, patching, and reconstruction).

· Experience with side-channel analysis and/or fault injection (voltage glitching, EMFI, laser, etc.), and commercial platforms, such as ChipWhisperer or/and Riscure Inspector.

· Strong understanding of applied cryptography, secure protocol design, and embedded crypto implementations.

· Experience with embedded systems (ARM Cortex-M, RISC-V, STM32, etc.) and debugging interfaces (JTAG, SWD, UART, SPI).

· Advanced programming skills in Python, C, and assembly for hardware interfacing and comfortable working in Linux environments with build systems, cross-compilation, and version control (git).

· Solid knowledge of lab instrumentation: oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, pulse generators, etc, as well as reverse engineering tools and techniques (Ghidra, IDA Pro, Binary Ninja, radare2, ARM/RISC-V disassembly).

At TII, we help society to overcome its biggest hurdles through a rigorous approach to scientific discovery and inquiry, using state-of-the-art facilities and collaboration with leading international
institutions. Our rigorous discovery and inquiry-based approach helps to forge new and disruptive breakthroughs in AI, advanced materials, autonomous robotics, cryptography, digital security, directed energy, quantum computing and secure systems.