We’re looking for a Real-Time Firmware Engineer who wants to work on challenging, meaningful problems at the intersection of hardware, software, and clean energy.

This is not a maintenance role. You’ll be helping build a new product from the ground up and contributing directly to firmware that powers electrification, grid resiliency, and distributed energy resources (DERs).

If you’re someone who enjoys deep technical work, solving real-world problems, and seeing your code move from concept to deployed product, this role is built for you.

You will: 

• Play a hands-on role in designing and delivering real-time firmware for microcontroller-based systems
• Design, implement, and test real-time firmware for control, communications, and functional safety
• Contribute directly to product development from concept through release
• Collaborate closely with hardware, firmware, and software engineers in a highly integrated environment
• Develop requirements, specifications, and test strategies
• Debug and troubleshoot complex, timing-critical systems
• Support product deployment and help resolve real-world technical challenges

Work Environment/Physical Demands: Must have the ability to work on a computer for extended periods of time with or without accommodation. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Location & Travel: This is a full-time hybrid position requiring 3 days on-site at our Philadelphia office and up to 5% travel. 

Compensation: $115,000 - $130,000 annually, plus bonus and equity. 

What Success Looks Like

First 90 Days

• Build a strong understanding of the product, system architecture, and problem space
• Develop a clear approach to implementing solutions

6 Months

• Independently own and deliver a meaningful portion of the product
• Contribute production-ready firmware to the system

12 Months

• Your work is validated, integrated, and released as part of the product

Who We’re Looking For 

Minimum Requirements 

• 5+ years experience as a Real-Time Firmware engineer designing, implementing, and testing embedded software/firmware for microcontrollers based products
• Professional experience developing software applications in C/C++
• Experience using RTOS to create software/firmware for multi-threaded, timing critical applications. Good understanding of timing budgets in critical systems
• Proficient with debugging/troubleshooting techniques, including JTAG Debuggers, trace analyzers, and use of electronics lab equipment such as Multimeters, Oscilloscopes, Logic analyzers, and Signal/Function Generators
• Professional experience using Source Control Management systems (e.g. Git)
• Understanding of static source code analysis tools/methods
• Experience in developing design documentation (requirements, flowcharts, data flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, etc.)
• Basic understanding of electronics concepts

Preferred Qualifications 

• Developing embedded firmware for functional safety (electrical, automotive, or medical)
• Electric meters, circuit breakers, or AC power management preferred
• Working in regulated industries and creating certification documentation
• Familiarity with IEC 60730, IEC 61508, or ISO 26262 preferred
• ARM processors (preferably Cortex-R), including execution models, interrupt management, and DMA
• TI AM64xx experience preferred
• Authoring low-level drivers and SOC management (UART, SPI, I2C, DDR4, Secure Boot, etc.)
• Implementing serial interfaces; CANbus or Modbus knowledge preferred
• Digital Signal Processing
• Remote communication protocols (RF, Wi-Fi, Cellular, Bluetooth)

You’re the ideal candidate if:

• You come in with a strong foundation: you’re not learning embedded systems from scratch
• You’re adaptable and comfortable with evolving requirements
• You bring informed opinions, but stay open and collaborative
• You can both write great code and explain it clearly
• You enjoy working on a team that solves problems together

You may not be a fit if:

• You’re a web or cloud engineer without deep firmware experience
• You prefer highly structured, slow-moving environments
• You struggle with collaboration or communicating technical ideas

As a Senior Embedded Software Engineer, you will own critical subsystems within our embedded stack, and your architectural decisions will shape the product. You'll bridge hardware and high-level applications across Embedded Linux, RTOS (Zephyr/FreeRTOS), and bare-metal environments — and you'll be the technical point of contact for product, hardware, cloud, and safety teams when those subsystems intersect. 

What You'll Do

• Own Critical Subsystems: Architect and implement C/C++ software for safety-critical embedded systems where reliability is non-negotiable. Your decisions will influence the product's long-term architecture.
• Drive Platform Architecture: Architect Embedded Linux user-space applications and real-time firmware for FreeRTOS/Zephyr devices. Design for failure modes, future scale, and platform reuse — not just the current product.
• Own Safety Compliance: Own the safety compliance posture of your subsystem. Partner with the safety team to embed IEC 61508 rigor into design and code without slowing development velocity.
• Architect CI/CD: Architect and evolve our GitLab CI/CD pipelines for firmware. Set the bar for automated testing, deterministic builds, and release confidence.
• Hardware Bring-Up & Debugging: Lead bring-up of new hardware. Diagnose complex bugs across the hardware/software boundary using JTAG, GDB, logic analyzers, and oscilloscopes.
• Cross-Team Influence: Serve as the primary technical point of contact for product, QE, hardware, and cloud teams on subsystem design, integration, and trade-offs.

What You Bring

• Experience: 6+ years of hands-on embedded software development, including 2+ years working on safety-critical or regulated products.
• Core Languages: Expert proficiency in C and C++, including modern C++ patterns and safe memory management at scale.
• OS Depth: Deep experience with Embedded Linux (including BSP and low-level architecture) and proficiency with at least one RTOS (Zephyr or FreeRTOS).
• Low-Level Linux: Working knowledge of Board Support Packages (BSP) and device drivers — you've debugged below the kernel boundary, not just above it.
• Connectivity: Strong fluency with IP networking and standard interfaces (UART, SPI, I2C, USB, CAN).
• Tooling: Proficient with Python for scripting/automation. Experience architecting CI/CD workflows for firmware (GitLab preferred).
• Debugging: Expert with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, JTAG, and GDB. You can localize hard bugs across the hardware/software boundary independently.
• Safety & Quality: Experience working under or implementing functional safety standards (IEC 61508, ISO 26262, DO-178C, or equivalent).
• Education: B.S. in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent experience.

Bonus Points

• Experience with wireless stacks (BLE, ISM, Wi-Fi).
• Background in regulated industries (Medical, Automotive, Aerospace, Industrial).
• Contributions to open-source embedded or RTOS projects.

How You'll Show Up — The FORT Blueprint at this Level

• Accomplish the Impossible: You proactively automate manual toil and find creative paths through ambiguous architectural problems.
• Own Your Priorities: You're accountable for project milestones and the long-term health of your subsystem — not just the next ticket.
• Think Out Loud: You lead architectural design reviews and communicate complex trade-offs clearly to engineers and non-engineers alike.
• Build Together: You run retrospectives and post-mortems, mentor more junior engineers, and align technical goals across hardware, firmware, SIT, and cloud teams.