Lead Firmware Engineer
Boston Engineering Corporation11 hours ago
Waltham, MA, USAStaff+
Base Salary
$150k - $175k/yr
Responsibilities
- Lead the design, development, optimization, and architecture of embedded and firmware systems for robotics, autonomous, maritime, and related platforms.
- Write, review, test, and debug RTOS-based firmware, device drivers, communication stacks, and low-level software.
- Perform hardware bring-up, review schematics and PCB layouts, debug board-level and networking issues, and determine root causes across software, firmware, and hardware.
- Lead systems design, technical design reviews, architecture discussions, roadmap planning, and technical risk management.
- Build and maintain benchtop development setups to enable firmware development before final hardware is available.
- Support integration, manufacturing, production, configuration management, and repeatable development workflows.
- Mentor and coach engineers, act as a technical escalation point, and improve embedded engineering processes and standards.
- Communicate technical concepts, tradeoffs, risks, status, and executable engineering plans to engineering and non-engineering stakeholders.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field is required; a master’s degree is preferred.
- At least 7 years of embedded or firmware development experience, including at least 3 years in a senior or technical lead role.
- Fluency in C and C++ for embedded systems and Python for tooling and testing.
- Hands-on experience with RTOS environments such as FreeRTOS, ROS2, or Zephyr.
- Experience developing on embedded targets such as STM32, ARM-based MCUs or SoCs, x86, PIC32, or similar platforms.
- Experience with I2C, SPI, UART, Ethernet, GPIO, and other low-level hardware interfaces.
- Experience with software requirements, specifications, design documentation, effective design reviews, debugging, testing, and reliability or safety requirements.
- Familiarity with cloud or network/server systems, CI/CD pipelines for embedded systems, and standard embedded development tools, Git, build systems, and debugging environments.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.
- Experience with maritime, robotics, uncrewed, military, government, defense, safety-critical, or mission-critical systems is preferred, along with exposure to navigation, localization, sensor fusion, autonomy, machine learning, computer vision, or AI for embedded or robotic systems.
- Familiarity with ISO 9001, CMMI, quality management systems, proposal development, feasibility studies, and practical embedded development workflows is desirable.
Benefits
- Full-time, office-based position in Waltham, Massachusetts, with minimal travel and no relocation assistance currently available.
- Base salary of $150,000 to $175,000 annually, commensurate with experience and qualifications.
- Benefits include health insurance, a 401(k) match, and paid time off.
About Boston Engineering Corporation
Boston Engineering Corporation provides product design and engineering consulting, taking hardware and software products from concept through connected, production-ready systems for defense, medical device, robotics, and commercial clients. Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Waltham, MA, the privately held firm is certified to ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 13485:2016. Engagements span embedded software, electromechanical systems, and UUV/robotics programs, including early prototyping, system integration, and transfer to manufacturing.