Senior Firmware Engineer

Job Description

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Senior Firmware Engineer

Company Overview

Company is developing a next-generation AI wearable that combines ultra-high-density neural sensing with a Brain Foundation Model to decode neural signals and convert thought into text without surgery. The company is focused on advancing noninvasive brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, enabling real-time interaction between the human brain and AI. Their goal is to create a direct connection between mind and machine through an EEG-powered wearable platform designed for communication, productivity, and human augmentation.

Position Summary

Generalist with rotating focus across the firmware stack. Moves across subsystems as work demands, picks up a primary domain at a time (RTOS and low-power state machines, wireless connectivity, sensor-acquisition drivers, inter-MCU bridges) and rotates as priorities shift. Works under the Lead FW's architectural direction. Works extensively with external engineering teams at CMs and silicon vendors, the work is outsourced; the accountability is shared with the Lead.

Responsibilities:

Own subsystem-level firmware under the Lead FW's architectural direction.
Take an assigned subsystem from spec through driver implementation, integration, bring-up, and validation.
Rotate across primary domains as the roadmap demands.
Run hands-on bring-up and debug — first power-on, peripheral bring-up, bus traffic validation, timing analysis, deep-sleep budget verification — with JTAG/SWD, logic analyzers, and protocol sniffers.
Partner with EE lead and EE ICs on co-debug for new boards — own the firmware side of bring-up checklists.
Partner with audio, camera, and biosensor leads to integrate their algorithms into the firmware runtime.
Contribute to the team's firmware engineering practices.
Drive external silicon-vendor engagement.

Requirements:

5 years embedded firmware — at least one shipped consumer product where you owned a subsystem end-to-end.
Hands-on Zephyr RTOS experience on Nordic silicon (nRF5x, nRF53, or nRF54L families) — peripheral drivers, deep-sleep state machines, low-power optimization, interrupt-driven design.
Hands-on ESP-IDF firmware experience on ESP32-family silicon — Wi-Fi/BLE stack integration, multi-radio coexistence, OTA infrastructure.
Hands-on STM32 firmware experience — HAL/LL drivers, CubeMX toolchain, timer/DMA/peripheral configuration.
Hands-on experience writing sensor-acquisition drivers on standard buses (SPI, I²C, I²S, USB) — DMA-driven sampling, ring buffers, hardware-aligned timestamping.
Comfortable in the lab — JTAG/SWD, logic analyzers, protocol sniffers.
Direct experience partnering with EE on hardware bring-up and co-debug.
Experience with Nordic Semiconductor nRF52 family devices.
Experience with SoC bring-up.
Experience with sensor hub development and integration.
Experience with PPG sensor integration is preferred.
Ability to work across multiple areas of embedded systems development.
Generalist mindset with flexibility to support changing project priorities.

Desired Skillsets:

Raspberry Pi or comparable Linux SBC firmware experience — userspace drivers, bus interaction with attached MCUs, Linux-side tooling for development-host bring-up.
Adjacent embedded ecosystems — FreeRTOS, ThreadX, NuttX, or bare-metal Cortex-M development.
ARM secure-partition development (TrustZone or comparable).
On-device flash file system work — LittleFS, SPIFFS, or equivalent on SPI NAND/NOR.
Hosting real-time DSP runtimes alongside wireless connectivity on resource-constrained MCUs.
Hardware-aligned cross-sensor timestamping for biopotential signal chains.
Early-stage or contract experience at a consumer hardware startup.
Experience with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is preferred.
Experience with DSP/DSD-related development is a plus.
Familiarity with relevant signal chains is a nice-to-have.

Location: Palo Alto, CA (Hybrid Schedule, 2 days/week in office)

Duration: 12-month contract with extension/conversion possibilities

Pay Rate Range: $80 to $105