Firmware Engineer (Robotics)

Location: Palo Alto, United States; on-site

Company

hirify.global builds generalized physical AI and robotic systems for adaptive, reasoning-intensive work in real-world industrial environments.

What you will do

• Write, test, and maintain production firmware in C/C++ or Rust for microcontrollers and embedded processors.
• Implement and debug CAN, EtherCAT, I2C, SPI, and UART communication across distributed hardware nodes.
• Configure microcontroller peripherals and integrate encoders, IMUs, torque sensors, force/torque arrays, actuators, and power electronics.
• Develop and tune real-time motor and actuator control loops under hard timing constraints.
• Collaborate with electrical engineers on board bring-up, pinout definitions, and hardware-software interfaces.
• Build firmware validation, regression testing, and hardware-in-the-loop tooling while debugging field-deployment issues.

Requirements

• Technical degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• Demonstrated firmware development experience for physical systems such as robots, motors, or power electronics.
• Deep fluency in C/C++ and/or Rust for embedded targets, including datasheet reading and driver development.
• Hands-on RTOS experience with task scheduling, priority management, and real-time guarantees.
• Experience with microcontroller peripherals, embedded communication protocols, sensor and actuator integration, and hardware-software debugging using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and JTAG.
• Ability to work through ambiguity and understand complete embedded systems beyond an individual component.

Nice to have

• Experience with safety-critical or deterministic real-time systems and standards such as IEC 61508 or ISO 26262.
• Familiarity with field-oriented control or other motor control algorithms.
• Experience with Linux-based embedded systems and RTOS-to-application-layer boundaries.
• Python scripting for test automation, data logging, or hardware validation.