Investigations Engineer - Hardware IP

Keystone is a premier economics, technology, and strategy consulting firm built to help companies lead through transformation. As breakthrough innovations reshape industries, redefine competition and change our society, complex and highly competitive ecosystems emerge. Keystone advises technology leaders, Fortune 100 companies, their legal counsel, and governments on business, economic, litigation, and regulatory strategy in relation to these innovations and competitive eco-systems. We operate globally from offices in Boston, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., London, Dubai, and Bengaluru.

About the Hardware Investigations Engineer Role

You will collaborate with lawyers, academics, and technology leaders to analyze the functionality of complex technical systems - Including source code, hardware designs, and circuitry, in the context of high-stakes legal and business matters such as patent litigation, trade secret disputes, and mergers and acquisitions. This role offers the opportunity to investigate the inner workings of products developed by the world’s leading technology companies, spanning semiconductors, analog and digital electronics, power systems, signal processing, embedded systems, and more.

Key Responsibilities

Analyze hardware and software systems and present summary findings to clients

Assess the originality, similarity, and differences between multiple hardware and software systems

Reverse engineer software applications and review semiconductor teardown reports to analyze key features and functionalities

Evaluate the complexity and value of software and hardware developed

Draft documents describing the functionality and behavior of hardware and software systems against legal claims

Develop and productize tools to make analyses more efficient and scalable

What You’ll Bring

3-5 years of experience working as a hardware consultant, circuit design engineer, or electrical/software engineer

Skilled in a variety of programming languages, hardware description languages, databases, and embedded system platforms, such as: Java, C++, C, C#, Python, PHP, SQL, MySQL, VHDL, Verilog, and FPGA.

Deep understanding of fundamental concepts in electrical engineering, such as: circuit design and analysis, semiconductor fabrication processes, analog and digital electronics, power systems, signal processing, embedded systems, PCB design, and hardware-software integration

Deep understanding of fundamental concepts in computer science, such as: data structures, architecture design, programming paradigms (object-oriented, functional, declarative), algorithms, distributed computing, concurrency, computational complexity, database systems, networking, compilers

Exceptional written and verbal communication skills

Capacity to work in fast-paced, high-stakes environment

The passion to learn, grow, and help us to improve our business

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or Materials Science; Master’s is a plus

At Keystone, we value the varied backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives our colleagues bring to our firm. We are committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone feels respected, has a sense of belonging, and has opportunities to grow.

This commitment extends to how we hire. Keystone is an equal opportunity employer committed to fair and inclusive hiring practices. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.