Product Prototyping Expert

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Product Prototyping Expert

Company: PQShield

Location: Remote (within operating countries: Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, France, Germany, UK)

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Product Security & Innovation / Hardware & Firmware Engineering

Date Posted: March 17, 2026

Experience Level: Mid-Senior Level (5+ years)

Remote Status: Fully Remote (with occasional travel)

🚀 Role Summary

• Accelerate the commercialization of cryptographic research and patented intellectual property by developing high-fidelity hardware and low-level firmware prototypes.

• Serve as the technical conduit between R&D, Product Security & Innovation, and core Engineering teams to ensure a robust product pipeline.

• Focus on incubating, de-risking, and maturing new concepts into tangible, commercially viable product artifacts and system architectures.

• Drive innovation by identifying and developing new opportunities within Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) and hybrid primitive implementations.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned within the Product Security & Innovation (PS&I) unit, indicating a strategic focus on bridging cutting-edge research with market-ready products. The emphasis on "handover-ready" documentation and collaboration with Product Management highlights the critical need for clear communication and structured output, essential for operations professionals.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Develop and build functional prototypes and reference implementations for Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) and PQ/T hybrid primitives on embedded hardware platforms, primarily FPGAs and MCUs.

• Translate patented intellectual property and ongoing cryptographic research into tangible, de-risked product artifacts and system architectures suitable for commercialization.

• Execute low-level firmware integration and bare-metal programming to validate hardware/software co-design and secure boot flows.

• Conduct deep performance and security trade-off evaluations, analyzing latency, resource utilization (area and power), and resilience against side-channel and physical attacks.

• Drive innovation by actively contributing new ideas and identifying emerging opportunities within the product security landscape.

• Document all technical artifacts, firmware interfaces, and validation results in comprehensive, handover-ready application notes and reports for Product Management and Engineering.

• Collaborate closely with R&D, Product Management, and core Engineering to ensure a disciplined, repeatable flow of innovation from the Incubation Phase into the commercial product roadmap.

• Actively contribute to the strategic activation and commercial embodiment of PQShield’s patent portfolio.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a blend of hands-on development and strategic contribution. The need to "translate patented IP and cryptographic research" and produce "handover-ready application notes and reports" points towards a role that requires meticulous process management, clear documentation standards, and effective cross-functional communication – core competencies in operations.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in relevant hardware and firmware development.

Required Skills:

• Strong experience with bare-metal programming and low-level firmware development for embedded systems.

• Proficient in firmware development tools and advanced debugging techniques.

• Hands-on debugging skills with hardware tools such as multimeters, logic analyzers, and oscilloscopes.

• Proven experience with FPGA development and prototyping methodologies.

• Familiarity with cryptographic hardware and security testing methodologies.

• Deep understanding of core security principles including secure boot, rollback protection, input validation, and trusted execution environments.

• Experience with Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) and embedded Linux environments.

• Excellent communication, teamwork, and technical documentation abilities, with a focus on detailed handover specifications.

Preferred Skills:

• Knowledge of timing attacks, fuzzing, tamper resistance, and/or power side-channel security countermeasures.

• Proficiency in hardware description languages (HDLs) such as Verilog or VHDL.

• Strong understanding of digital design principles.

• Experience with AI tools for productivity gains in development and analysis.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirements highlight a blend of deep technical expertise and strong operational capabilities. The emphasis on documentation, collaboration, and structured problem-solving suggests that candidates with experience in process definition, project management, and knowledge transfer will be highly valued.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Demonstrable examples of functional prototypes and reference implementations for embedded systems, showcasing hardware and low-level firmware development.

• Case studies detailing the translation of research or patented IP into tangible product artifacts and system architectures.

• Evidence of low-level firmware integration, bare-metal programming, and validation of secure boot flows.

• Documentation of performance and security trade-off evaluations, including metrics for latency, resource utilization, and security resilience.

Process Documentation:

• Showcase experience in documenting firmware interfaces and validation results clearly and comprehensively.

• Provide examples of contributing to a disciplined, repeatable flow of innovation from incubation to product roadmap integration.

• Illustrate how processes were established or improved for de-risking new concepts through high-fidelity prototypes.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role explicitly requires a portfolio that demonstrates not just technical prowess but also the ability to manage the process of innovation from concept to handoff. Operations professionals will recognize the need for structured project management, clear deliverable definition, and robust documentation within their portfolio.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

The typical salary range for a Product Prototyping Expert with 5+ years of experience in the UK, Germany, or France, considering the hybrid/remote nature and specialized skills, would likely fall between €70,000 - €100,000 annually, or £60,000 - £85,000 in the UK. This estimate is based on industry benchmarks for senior embedded systems and firmware engineers in high-cost-of-living European countries, with an additional premium for specialized security and cryptography expertise.

Benefits:

• Unparalleled opportunities to learn and accelerate career development.

• Collaborative, team environment with passionate professionals.

• Competitive salary and share option scheme.

• Flexible and hybrid working arrangements.

• Working from home budget to enhance remote setup.

• Private health insurance for employees and their families.

• Generous annual leave: 25 days plus bank holidays and two dedicated wellness weeks.

• 50% gym membership discount.

Working Hours:

• Standard full-time working hours (approximately 40 hours per week), with flexibility offered due to the remote and hybrid nature of the role.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is based on typical compensation for senior technical roles in the specified European regions, adjusted for the specialized nature of post-quantum cryptography and hardware prototyping. The benefits package offers a strong blend of professional growth, work-life balance, and comprehensive health and wellness support, aligning with attractive opportunities for operations professionals.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Cybersecurity, specifically focusing on Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) and hardware security solutions. PQShield operates at the forefront of securing future digital infrastructure against advanced threats.

Company Size: While not explicitly stated, the presence of a "core Product Security & Innovation (PS&I) unit" and a "core Engineering" team suggests a growing, established company, likely in the range of 50-250 employees, indicating a dynamic environment with potential for significant impact.

Founded: PQShield was founded in 2019, positioning it as a relatively young, innovative company with a strong focus on cutting-edge technology and rapid growth.

Team Structure:

• The role sits within the Product Security & Innovation (PS&I) unit, a specialized team focused on bridging research and product development.

• Direct collaboration with R&D, Product Management, and core Engineering teams is expected, emphasizing cross-functional teamwork.

Methodology:

• Emphasis on translating research and patented IP into "commercially viable products" and "durable product pipeline."

• Focus on "incubation, de-risking, and maturation of new concepts" through high-fidelity prototypes.

• Commitment to detailed technical documentation and "handover-ready" deliverables for smooth integration into the commercial product roadmap.

• Actively driving innovation and strategic activation of the company's patent portfolio.

Company Website: https://pqshield.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's focus on cutting-edge PQC and hardware security implies a culture that values deep technical expertise, innovation, and rigorous validation. The emphasis on a structured innovation pipeline and clear communication between R&D, Product, and Engineering aligns well with the principles of effective revenue and sales operations.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is at a mid-to-senior level, requiring significant technical expertise and the ability to operate independently. It's a critical bridge role, demanding both deep technical understanding and strong process-oriented skills for innovation transfer.

Reporting Structure: The Product Prototyping Expert will likely report to a manager within the Product Security & Innovation (PS&I) unit, with extensive collaboration across R&D, Product Management, and core Engineering. This structure promotes cross-functional visibility and learning.

Operations Impact: The role directly impacts the company's ability to innovate and bring new, secure products to market. By de-risking and maturing concepts, this expert ensures that PQShield maintains a competitive edge and a robust pipeline of intellectual property translated into revenue-generating solutions.

Growth Opportunities:

• Technical Specialization: Deepen expertise in PQC, embedded security, FPGA development, and low-level firmware, becoming a subject matter expert.

• Leadership in Innovation: Potentially lead incubation efforts, mentor junior engineers, and contribute to strategic product roadmapping.

• Cross-Functional Influence: Gain broader exposure to product management, sales enablement, and core engineering processes, offering a pathway into product strategy or technical program management.

• Industry Recognition: Contribute to a company at the forefront of a critical cybersecurity domain, with opportunities for knowledge sharing and industry engagement.

📝 Enhancement Note: For operations professionals, this role offers a unique blend of technical depth and process-driven impact. The growth trajectory involves not only technical mastery but also the development of skills critical for operational excellence, such as process optimization, knowledge transfer, and strategic project execution.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: This is a fully remote position, offering significant flexibility. However, it requires some travel to PQShield's offices, suggesting a hybrid model where remote work is the norm but in-person collaboration for key milestones or team events is necessary.

Office Location(s): The team operates across Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, France, and the UK. This distributed nature requires strong asynchronous communication and collaboration tools.

Workspace Context:

• A remote-first environment necessitates robust digital collaboration tools (e.g., Slack, Teams, Jira, Confluence).

• The need for occasional travel to offices implies opportunities for in-person team building, strategic planning, and hands-on hardware work in equipped labs.

Work Schedule:

• Standard full-time hours (approx. 40 hours/week).

• Flexibility is inherent in the remote setup, allowing for adaptation to different time zones within the operating countries and personal work preferences, provided deliverables and collaboration needs are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The remote-first approach with occasional travel emphasizes the need for strong self-management, proactive communication, and proficiency with collaboration technologies – all vital for operations roles that often manage distributed teams or processes.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A call with HR or a recruiter to assess basic qualifications, cultural fit, and interest in the role.

• Technical Interview(s): In-depth discussions focusing on hardware/firmware expertise, bare-metal programming, FPGA development, security principles, and problem-solving. This may involve coding exercises or system design questions.

• Portfolio Review: A dedicated session to walk through selected projects from your portfolio, demonstrating your experience with prototyping, documentation, and the translation of R&D into tangible outputs.

• Cross-Functional/Manager Interview: Discussion with the hiring manager or key stakeholders from Product Management or Engineering to assess collaboration style, strategic thinking, and alignment with PQShield's innovation process.

• Final Interview: Potentially with senior leadership to discuss company vision, strategic contributions, and long-term career alignment.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight Process: Clearly articulate the steps taken from concept to prototype, including any challenges overcome and lessons learned.

• Showcase Documentation: Present examples of your "handover-ready" application notes and reports, emphasizing clarity, technical detail, and completeness.

• Quantify Impact: Where possible, quantify the performance improvements, security enhancements, or de-risking achieved through your prototypes.

• Focus on Collaboration: Be prepared to discuss how you collaborated with R&D, Product, and Engineering teams, illustrating your role in the innovation pipeline.

• Tailor to PQShield: Emphasize projects related to embedded systems, FPGAs, low-level firmware, and security, especially if they touch upon cryptographic concepts.

Challenge Preparation:

• Be ready to discuss hypothetical scenarios related to developing prototypes for new cryptographic algorithms or securing embedded systems against specific threats.

• Prepare to explain your approach to debugging complex hardware/firmware interactions.

• Think about how you would document and transfer a complex technical concept to another team for commercialization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on a portfolio review and "handover-ready" documentation is crucial. Operations candidates should prepare to discuss their project management methodologies, their approach to defining and documenting processes, and how they ensure clear communication and knowledge transfer between technical teams.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Programming Languages: C (essential for MCUs, bare-metal), Assembly (for performance-critical sections), Python (for scripting, test automation, host communication).

• Embedded Platforms: MCUs (e.g., STM32, RH850, RPI2350), FPGAs.

• Hardware Interfaces: UART, I2C, SPI, QSPI flash.

• Development OS: Linux.

• FPGA Tools: Vivado, Verilator, TCL (preferred: Fusesoc, OpenRoad, SpinalHDL).

• Version Control: Git (Github, Gitlab).

• Project Management: JIRA.

• Build Systems: CMake.

Analytics & Reporting:

CRM & Automation:

• Not directly applicable to this role, but understanding how prototypes integrate into broader product development workflows is beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of specific tools like STM32, RH850, RPI2350, Vivado, Verilator, and Git/Jira is important. Operations professionals should highlight their experience with similar project management, development, and version control systems, demonstrating their ability to work within structured technical environments. The mention of Python for testing and automation is also a strong operational indicator.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Innovation & Research: A strong drive to explore new frontiers in cryptography and hardware security, translating cutting-edge research into practical applications.

• Technical Rigor: A commitment to deep technical understanding, precise implementation, and thorough validation of security concepts and performance metrics.

• Collaboration & Communication: An emphasis on teamwork and clear, detailed communication, especially in transferring complex technical knowledge between R&D, Product, and Engineering.

• Efficiency & Impact: A focus on de-risking concepts and accelerating the path to commercialization, ensuring that innovation translates into tangible business value.

• Open-Mindedness: An approach that embraces new ideas, research, and a willingness to experiment and learn.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Active collaboration between hardware, firmware, R&D, and product management is fundamental.

• Knowledge Transfer: A culture that values comprehensive documentation and clear handover processes to ensure successful product integration.

• Problem-Solving Focus: A collective effort to tackle complex technical challenges in security and performance through iterative prototyping and analysis.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "translating innovation," "de-risking," and "handover-ready" deliverables strongly aligns with operations principles of process optimization, efficiency, and ensuring smooth transitions between different stages of a project or product lifecycle.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Bridging Research and Product: The primary challenge is effectively translating highly technical, potentially theoretical cryptographic research and patented IP into practical, reliable, and commercially viable hardware/firmware prototypes.

• Security vs. Performance Trade-offs: Balancing stringent security requirements with performance demands (latency, power, resource utilization) on resource-constrained embedded platforms.

• Rapidly Evolving Landscape: Staying abreast of advancements in Post-Quantum Cryptography, hardware security threats, and embedded technologies.

• Documentation Rigor: Ensuring that all technical findings, interfaces, and validation results are meticulously documented for seamless handover to product teams.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep Dive into PQC: Gain unparalleled, hands-on experience with the implementation of Post-Quantum Cryptography algorithms on hardware.

• Advanced Embedded Systems: Master low-level firmware development, bare-metal programming, and hardware/software co-design on cutting-edge embedded platforms.

• Security Expertise: Develop specialized knowledge in hardware security, side-channel attacks, secure boot, and embedded system vulnerability analysis.

• Innovation Pipeline Management: Contribute to and learn from a structured process of bringing novel technologies from research to market.

📝 Enhancement Note: For operations professionals, the challenges and growth opportunities highlight the application of structured problem-solving, process improvement, and strategic project execution in a highly technical domain. The emphasis on learning and development aligns with the continuous improvement ethos common in operations roles.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you translated a complex technical concept or research finding into a functional prototype. What was your process, and what were the key deliverables?" (Focus on your process, documentation, and handover strategy).

• "How do you approach evaluating performance and security trade-offs in embedded systems? Can you provide an example?" (Highlight analytical skills and understanding of metrics).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "PQShield is focused on de-risking innovation for commercial products. How does your experience align with this mission?" (Connect your prototyping and documentation skills to commercial viability).

• "How do you ensure clear and effective communication when collaborating with teams outside your immediate technical domain (e.g., Product Management)?" (Emphasize documentation and stakeholder management).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Organize your presentation around key projects, clearly outlining the problem, your approach, the solution (prototype), the results (performance/security metrics), and the handover documentation.

• Highlight Process: Emphasize the steps you took, the tools used, and how you ensured the prototype was "handover-ready."

• Quantify Impact: Use data (latency, power, security scores) to demonstrate the success of your prototypes.

• Documentation Focus: Be prepared to show examples of your technical documentation and explain its importance in the product development lifecycle.

• Collaborative Aspect: Discuss how you worked with other teams and how your work contributed to the broader product roadmap.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview preparation advice centers on demonstrating not just technical capability but also operational excellence: process, documentation, collaboration, and strategic impact. Candidates should prepare to speak about their methodologies and how they ensure smooth transitions and clear communication, mirroring the core functions of operations roles.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Product Prototyping Expert position:

• Submit your application through the PQShield careers portal via the provided link.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight experience with bare-metal programming, low-level firmware, FPGA development, hardware debugging, and technical documentation. Use keywords like "prototype," "implement," "de-risk," "handover," and "embedded systems."

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 key projects that best showcase your ability to develop functional prototypes, translate research into tangible artifacts, and produce comprehensive, handover-ready documentation. Be prepared to discuss the process and impact of these projects.

• Prepare for Technical Deep Dives: Review core concepts in embedded systems, firmware development, FPGA fundamentals, cryptographic principles, and common hardware security vulnerabilities. Practice explaining complex technical details clearly and concisely.

• Research PQShield: Understand their mission, focus on Post-Quantum Cryptography, and their commitment to innovation and product security. Tailor your application and interview responses to align with their values and strategic goals.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.