Embedded Firmware Engineer — Real-Time & Founding Equity

First Order Effects; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 100,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

First Order Effects in Austin, TX is seeking a Firmware Engineer (Embedded Systems) to own the firmware for the MESH platform, including real-time control on MCUs and orchestration on embedded Linux. You will shape the foundation the software stack relies on and bring the box alive on the bench and in the field.

You’ll work on power systems and safety-critical firmware, implement interfaces between firmware and control PCBA, and build telemetry, logging, and diagnostics.

Qualifications

• Experience with power systems, battery management, inverters, or generator controls.
• Background in safety-critical firmware or functional safety.
• Hands-on hardware bring-up and high-reliability mindset.

Responsibilities

• Ship firmware on real hardware where reliability is non-negotiable.
• Write C and C++ at hardware level: SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, Ethernet, interrupts.
• Work across RTOS or bare metal and embedded Linux, including Yocto or Buildroot.
• Debug across hardware and software with scope, logic analyzer, and JTAG.

Skills

C

C++

Embedded systems

RTOS

Embedded Linux

Yocto

Buildroot

JTAG

Tools

Yocto

Buildroot

JTAG

Job description

First Order Effects in Austin, TX is seeking a Firmware Engineer (Embedded Systems) to own the firmware for the MESH platform, including real-time control on MCUs and orchestration on embedded Linux. You will shape the foundation the software stack relies on and bring the box alive on the bench and in the field.

You’ll work on power systems and safety-critical firmware, implement interfaces between firmware and control PCBA, and build telemetry, logging, and diagnostics.