Staff Software Engineer — Firmware, Security & Formal Methods
Seattle area, WA · vincentjzimmer.github.io · LinkedIn · Google Scholar
I'm a senior firmware and platform security engineer with 30+ years of experience — from silicon bring-up to OS handoff. Currently at Anduril Industries working on firmware for autonomous systems, AI edge hardware (NVIDIA Jetson), and applying formal verification to mission-critical code.
Previously: Microsoft (Project Mu, firmware threat modeling) and Intel (27 years — UEFI architecture, Secure Boot, TPM/TCG, FSP).
| Area | Details |
|---|---|
| Firmware | UEFI/BIOS, EDKII, Project Mu, FSP, PI Spec, embedded Linux |
| Linux / NixOS | Nix flakes & modules, reproducible firmware packaging, Rust-based systemd services |
| Security | Secure Boot, TPM/TCG, SPDM, NIST 800-193, threat modeling, post-quantum crypto |
| Formal Methods | Lean 4, TLA+, Rocq/Coq, Isabelle/HOL, CBMC, Frama-C |
| Languages | Rust · C · OCaml · Python · Nix · Bash |
| AI Hardware | NVIDIA Jetson (firmware, secure boot, security hardening) |
- System Firmware: An Essential Guide — Banik, Zimmer · Apress 2022
- Building Secure Firmware — Yao, Zimmer · Apress 2020
- Beyond BIOS, 3rd Ed. — Zimmer, Rothman, Marisetty · De Gruyter 2017
- Harnessing the UEFI Shell, 2nd Ed. — Rothman, Zimmer, Lewis · De Gruyter 2017
- Embedded Firmware Solutions — Sun, Zimmer et al. · Apress 2015
- Post-Quantum SPDM Device Authentication — MDPI Journal of Cryptography, 2022
- UEFI Firmware Fuzzing with Simics — DAC 2020
- Symbolic Execution for BIOS Security — USENIX WOOT 2015
- RFC 5970: DHCPv6 Options for Network Boot (co-author)
- M.S. Computer Science & Engineering — University of Washington, 1999
- B.S. Electrical Engineering — Cornell University, 1992
- Erdős number: 3 · csauthors.net
vincentjzimmer/Documents— Papers, book chapters, talks (43 ⭐)