Hardware Internship Program Edinburgh, On-site

About the Hardware TeamThe Hardware Team at Nethermind is pioneering biometric security solutions. We apply advanced cryptography and blockchain to create secure privacy-preserving hardware systems for identity verification and tamper-proof authentication.Areas of Internship Focus:3D Biometric Imaging & Reconstruction: Research and develop computer vision techniques for low cost 3D biometric reconstruction to improve matching accuracy and spoof detection.Privacy-Preserving CNN Improvement: Develop continual learning methods to adapt CNNs for biometric verification without storing raw data. Use flow or score-matching models to generate privacy-safe synthetic data enabling on-device or TEE-contained updates without degrading accuracy.TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) Integration: Implement secure pipelines where camera capture CNN inference encryption and attestation all occur inside a TEE for maximum security.Presentation Attack Defence: Designing and testing methods to identify attempts to fool our biometric system.Next-Generation Imaging Methods: Explore alternative imaging approaches to reduce power consumption enable device miniaturisation and enhance image quality.Tamper Prevention: Designing hardware and manufacturing methods to ensure robustness against physical tampering or counterfeiting.Manufacturing Optimisation: Reviewing form factor component selection assembly and test fixture processes to reduce overall cost and improve user experience.Applied Cryptography: Working with the research team to incorporate MPC (Multi-Party Computation) and ZKP (Zero-Knowledge Proof) protocols to enhance biometric data security.Diverse Skills You Can Learn and UseBiometric Image Processing & ML: Build and train models for biometric feature extraction matching 3D reconstruction and anti-spoofing.Machine Learning Pipeline Research: Explore privacy-preserving ML flows for improving CNNs in production without storing training data.Electronics & Sensor Engineering: Work on tamper prevention modular component design power optimisation and miniaturisation for biometric devices.Tamper Prevention Hardware Design: Apply secure manufacturing techniques and security engineering to prevent and detect physical intrusion.Secure Cryptographic Protocols: Implement MPC ZKP and TEE-based processing to ensure biometric data never leaves the secure environment in raw form.Embedded Systems & Firmware: Develop firmware to integrate sensors cryptographic modules embedded deployment (Yokto) and secure data pipelines.Imaging System Innovation: Research and test imaging methods that reduce power draw while enhancing accuracy and reliability.Product Prototyping & Testing: Design build and evaluate hardware prototypes for accuracy reliability and security.We Are Looking ForMachine Learning Engineers with expertise in computer vision biometric recognition 3D reconstruction or anti-spoofing techniques.Embedded developers experienced with Yocto deploying on embedded systems or working with Trusted Execution EnvironmentsElectronics Engineers experienced with either sensor systems power optimisation PCB design tamper prevention penetration testing.Manufacturing Engineers with knowledge of secure manufacturing processes or experience in component sourcing.MPC & ZKP Engineers skilled in designing privacy-preserving protocols for biometric verification or secure enclave integration.Optical Engineers with experience in advanced imaging methods preferably with biometric experience.Helpful Experience Includes:Biometric data acquisition and processingApplied cryptography for secure hardwareIndustrial design with a security focusHardware security evaluation and testingWhat We Offer/ BenefitsGlobal and Diverse Workforce: Youll work with people from various backgrounds and cultures.Learning and Development: Youll work on innovative challenging projects and have access to experts and mentors to enhance your skills.Career Growth: Access to training mentorship and opportunities to contribute to open-source initiatives.Collaborative and Innovative Culture: We foster teamwork and encourage new ideas.Our Commitment to DiversityAt Nethermind we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all team members. We believe a variety of perspectives drives innovation and leads to better solutions for the blockchain community.Ready to Join UsIf youre passionate about biometric hardware cryptography and building secure systems that work in the real world wed love to hear from you. Click Apply for this Job to start your journey with Nethermind.Required Experience:Intern Key Skills Project Management Methodology,Project / Program Management,Program Management,Management Experience,Microsoft Powerpoint,Project Management,Microsoft Project,Budgeting,DoD Experience,Leadership Experience,Supervising Experience,Contracts Employment Type : Full-Time Department / Functional Area: Operations Experience: years Vacancy: 1