Firmware Engineer

Hargrave Technologies; Australia; Remote; AUD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Hargrave Technologies is seeking a Firmware Engineer to bridge hardware and software teams. You will create high-performance, embedded firmware for real-world products, from design through validation, collaborating closely with hardware engineers.

The role involves hands-on debugging, prototyping, and optimizing firmware for reliability and efficiency in mission-critical environments.

Qualifications

• Experience with embedded C and bare-metal or embedded firmware development.
• Hands-on work building drivers and hardware interfaces for sensors and peripherals.
• Familiarity with I2C, SPI, UART and CAN buses.
• Strong hardware debugging skills with test equipment and prototyping tools.
• Knowledge of RTOS, embedded Linux or electronics manufacturing is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Develop and optimise embedded firmware for microcontrollers.
• Design bare-metal and embedded firmware architectures.
• Build device drivers and HALs for sensors, memory and interfaces.
• Collaborate with hardware engineers during prototype development and validation.
• Debug issues using oscilloscopes, logic analysers, multimeters and JTAG/SWD.
• Investigate firmware bugs, field issues and HW-SW integration.
• Improve firmware reliability, testing and product performance.

Skills

Embedded C

Python

Microcontrollers

Bare-metal firmware

Device drivers

I2C

SPI

UART

CAN

Hardware debugging

RTOS / embedded Linux

Tools

JTAG/SWD

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Multimeters

Job description

Firmware Engineer

This role would be the best fit for you if you want to work on genuinely difficult engineering problems and see your work end up in real and unique products across other specialised applications.

A significant part of our work supports defence and military applications, where reliability, performance and engineering quality genuinely matter. You’ll be working on physical products and embedded systems that are built for serious real-world use.

As the Firmware Engineer, you will be the bridge, the key connection between the hardware team and the engineering team, building high-performance systems from the ground up.

This isn’t the role where you would spend your time maintaining legacy code or sitting away from the actual products - you will be involved in the decision-making, the debugging, the testing and the final outcome.

You will be working on:

• Developing and optimising embedded C, Python wrapping for build tooling firmware for microcontrollers.

• Designing bare-metal and embedded firmware architectures.

• Building device drivers as well as HALs for sensors, memory and communication interfaces such as I2C, SPI, CAN and more.

• Working directly with hardware engineers during prototype development and validation.

• Debugging issues using oscilloscopes, logic analysers, multimeters and JTAG/SWD tools, etc.

• Investigating firmware bugs, field failures and hardware-software integration and any issues during said integration.

• Helping to improve firmware reliability, testing and product performance.
  

Why Hargrave

Hargrave is named after Lawrence Hargrave, the Australian aviation pioneer. We are an Australian engineering company designing and building high-performance electronics, motors and control systems for demanding applications and industries.

A lot of the work is genuinely mission-critical, technically difficult and used in environments where reliability matters. Our technology can end up in drones and other military applications and missions, where the work you do has a direct impact on how the final product performs in the real world.

If you want to work on engineering with real-world purpose and see your work end up in serious physical products, this is the kind of work we do.

We are still small enough that your voice and your work matter and you will be able to see real influence on the products, but we’re scaling and big enough to be working on serious, high-impact projects around the world.

Real ownership is a core part of how we work. Engineers are trusted to take responsibility for their work from concept through delivery, make informed decisions, challenge existing approaches and follow problems through to resolution.

Less bureaucracy. More ownership, accountability and quality.

As Hargrave continues to grow, there’s plenty of room for good people to shape not only the products, but also how we work as a team.

The ideal candidate would have experience in:

• Embedded C, Python and microcontrollers.

• Bare-metal or embedded firmware development.

• Device drivers and hardware interfaces.

• I2C, SPI, UART and CAN.

• Hardware debugging and board bring-up/prototyping.

• Experience with motor control, power electronics, RTOS, embedded Linux or electronics manufacturing would be highly regarded.
  

Pre-employment screening

Due to the nature of our work, including Defence-related projects, successful applicants will be required to complete pre-employment screening, including a National Police Check.