Firmware Engineer I-II
$120,000–$160,000 year
On-siteLos Angeles, California, United States
Job Summary
Design, develop, and maintain firmware in C/C++ for reactor instrumentation, control, monitoring, and electrical support systems. Bring up new hardware, debug board-level issues, and validate behavior using oscilloscopes and logic analyzers. Implement communication interfaces like SPI, I2C, and CAN while developing software for sensor acquisition, actuator control, and fault detection. Collaborate with electrical, controls, and safety teams to ensure designs meet regulatory requirements and support hardware-in-the-loop testing. Participate in design reviews and drive root-cause investigations for integration issues.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, or a related technical field
- 2+ years of experience developing production software in C, C++, Python, Rust, or similar languages for hardware-integrated, distributed, embedded, robotics, aerospace, automotive, industrial, or mission-critical systems
- Experience building multi-threaded or multi-process software systems, including IPC, networking, message passing, or publish/subscribe architectures
- Experience integrating software with sensors, controllers, DAQs, power supplies, embedded systems, or other hardware-facing interfaces
- Strong debugging skills across software, hardware, and system-integration boundaries
- Ability to design clear software interfaces, data models, state machines, and testable system behaviors
- Comfortable working in an environment where requirements evolve through prototype testing, hardware bring-up, and cross-functional design tradeoffs
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, especially when working across software, electrical, controls, test, and systems engineering teams
- U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder), Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State
Desired Qualifications
- Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, or a related technical field, and 1+ years of experience developing production software
- Experience working in regulated or safety-critical environments such as nuclear, aerospace, defense, automotive, maritime, medical devices, industrial controls, or robotics
- Experience with real-time systems, RTOS-based development, bare-metal firmware, or safety-critical embedded software
- Experience with hardware bring-up, board-level debugging, root-cause analysis, and firmware validation
- Experience developing firmware for sensors, actuators, power electronics, control systems, data acquisition, or telemetry systems
- Exposure to Hardware in the Loop testing, automated test frameworks, simulation environments, or continuous integration for embedded systems
- Familiarity with bootloaders, firmware update mechanisms, device drivers, low-level peripherals, and embedded communication stacks
- Familiarity with software or firmware development processes for configuration-controlled systems
- Familiarity with relevant standards, guidance, or development practices in safety-critical systems, including IEEE, IEC, DO-178C, DO-254, IEC 61508, ISO 26262, DOE nuclear standards, or similar
- Experience contributing to formal design reviews, hazard analyses, verification plans, or qualification documentation
- Demonstrated ability to take ownership of ambiguous embedded systems problems and drive them to closure
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