Summer Intern, Firmware Engineer - Physical Storage

Position: Summer 2026 Intern, Firmware Engineer - Physical Storage
Company Description

Sandisk understands how people and businesses consume data and we relentlessly innovate to deliver solutions that enable today's needs and tomorrow's next big ideas. With a rich history of groundbreaking innovations in Flash and advanced memory technologies, our solutions have become the beating heart of the digital world we're living in and that we have the power to shape.

Sandisk meets people and businesses at the intersection of their aspirations and the moment, enabling them to keep moving and pushing possibility forward. We do this through the balance of our powerhouse manufacturing capabilities and our industry-leading portfolio of products that are recognized globally for innovation, performance and quality.

Sandisk has two facilities recognized by the World Economic Forum as part of the Global Lighthouse Network for advanced 4IR innovations. These facilities were also recognized as Sustainability Lighthouses for breakthroughs in efficient operations. With our global reach, we ensure the global supply chain has access to the Flash memory it needs to keep our world moving forward.

Job Description

This internship involves working as part of the "physical storage" team developing firmware for solid state storage devices used in consumer and enterprise computer systems. ("Firmware" refers to software running on an embedded system such as San Disk's SSD products.)

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The firmware team designs and implements features to support current and next-generation memory devices and develops features required for new product requirements and applications. The physical storage team is specifically responsible for the layer of firmware that interfaces to and controls the NAND memory devices.

The PS Team implements features including:

• basic NAND flash memory operations such as erase, write, and read;
• sophisticated algorithms to maximize performance (write cache, read cache, program and erase suspend / resume, configuring read thresholds for optimal performance);
• mechanisms to handle defect mechanisms (uncorrectable ECC errors, program failures, etc...); and
• countermeasures against those defects (read scrub, wear leveling, optimizing program voltage levels, tracking and setting NAND read thresholds, etc...).

Typical engineer activities include:

• examining design options and evaluating tradeoffs between performance, memory requirements, and processor workloads;
• collaborating with engineers in other teams at San Disk (Memory Systems, NAND / memory, System Architecture, and Validation) to define overall drive functionality and behavior;
• designing and drafting specifications for FW features that integrate within the overall SSD system and firmware architecture;
• implementing the necessary functionality in C/C++ (and/or machine language in some cases); and
• using debuggers and other tools to analyze failures and correct software defects.

Qualifications

Required:

• Pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or similar
• Able to analyze and communicate at various levels of abstraction
• Ability to communicate ideas clearly and influence technical direction
• Strong verbal and written communication
• Proficiency in "C" programming and related concepts

Preferred Skills:

• NAND experience
• experience with logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, and/or protocol analyzers
• Real-time system concepts and experience helpful

Additional Information

Sandisk is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate against any applicant or employee based on their race, color, ancestry, religion (including religious dress and grooming standards), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), gender (including a person's gender identity, gender expression, and gender-related appearance and behavior, whether or not stereotypically associated with the person's assigned sex at birth), age, national origin, sexual orientation, medical condition, marital status (including domestic partnership status), physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic…