Staff Firmware Engineer, Battery Systems
QuantumScape Corporation28 days ago
USA (city not specified)Staff+
Base Salary
$137k - $209k/yr
Responsibilities
- Create a firmware platform for battery packs using bare-metal and RTOS environments, including drivers.
- Define microcontroller pinouts and peripheral allocation.
- Design redundant battery protection functions with consistent timing.
- Implement power sequencing, pre-charge control, and inrush-current limiting.
- Develop state-of-charge and state-of-health estimation algorithms.
- Define battery operating states and transitions across all operating modes.
- Optimize operating-mode and sleep-mode power consumption.
- Implement firmware read/write protection and upgrade mechanisms.
- Create and validate firmware communication protocols with ODM partners.
- Bring up newly built hardware platforms and resolve issues with hardware engineers.
- Provide firmware validation and regression test plans to the laboratory.
- Support digital power-converter control, OpenBMC integration, modular multi-pack systems, and customer-facing application engineering as applicable.
Requirements
- Relevant bachelor’s degree plus 9+ years of experience, relevant master’s degree plus 8+ years, or relevant Ph.D. plus 5+ years.
- At least 5 years of experience writing battery-management-system firmware for lithium-ion battery packs.
- Proficiency with TI C2000, STM32, or similar microcontroller platforms.
- In-depth understanding of RTOS and interrupt timing and latency control.
- Experience designing and tuning state-of-charge and state-of-health estimation algorithms.
- Experience configuring ADC, PWM, comparator, UART, and similar hardware peripherals and writing drivers.
- Ability to create a firmware platform from scratch and work with medium- to high-power battery packs above 20 kW.
- Understanding of battery protection features and safety requirements including UL 2054, UL 1973, UL 9540A, and IEC 62133.
- Experience implementing SMBus, PMBus, and Modbus communication protocols.
- Track record of taking at least two battery products through prototype bring-up, validation, and regulatory approval.
- Fluency in C for bare-metal and RTOS environments and comfort with fixed-point mathematics for real-time control.
- Preferred experience includes digital control of PFC, DC/DC converters, and inverters; lithium-ion battery chemistry; OpenBMC, Redfish, and IPMI; regulatory code reviews and audits; configurable modular multi-pack systems; OCP power-shelf standards; and customer-facing application engineering.
- Must work onsite five days per week.
Benefits
- Expected base salary is $136,700 to $208,500 annually.
- Annual bonus and RSU/equity package are offered.
- Benefits include employee-paid health care and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
- The position is onsite five days per week in an R&D and manufacturing operations environment.
- Equal-opportunity employer with reasonable accommodations available for applicants and employees with disabilities.
Tech Stack
C
Categories
About QuantumScape Corporation
QuantumScape develops solid-state lithium-metal battery cells for electric vehicles and other energy storage uses, selling to automotive OEMs and industrial customers. The public company, founded in 2010 and headquartered in San Jose, California, focuses on manufacturing processes and materials to boost energy density, safety, and fast-charge performance. It has a long-standing development partnership with Volkswagen Group to commercialize its cells for future EV platforms.