Embedded Software Engineer

Hark; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Hark is seeking a Firmware Engineer to develop and maintain embedded firmware for their consumer products. This role involves working with hardware teams on ARM-based SoCs and optimizing firmware for performance, power consumption, and battery efficiency.

The ideal candidate will have over 3 years of embedded systems experience, strong skills in C/C++, and familiarity with RTOS. The position offers a competitive salary range between $120,000 - $300,000 annually, reflecting individual expertise and experience.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional firmware or embedded systems development.
• Experience with ARM Cortex-M or Cortex-A processors and associated toolchains.
• Comfort reading schematics and working alongside hardware engineers during board bring-up.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain embedded firmware in C/C++ targeting ARM-based SoCs and microcontrollers.
• Optimize power consumption and thermal performance for always-on, battery-powered operation.
• Collaborate with the on-device AI team to support model inference.

Skills

C/C++ proficiency

Embedded system development

ARM Cortex processor experience

Embedded debugging tools

Tools

RTOS (FreeRTOS, Zephyr)

Logic analyzers

Oscilloscopes

JTAG

Job description

About Hark

Hark is an artificial intelligence company building advanced, personalized intelligence. One that is proactive, multimodal, and capable of interacting with the world through speech, text, vision, and persistent memory.

We're pairing that intelligence with next-generation hardware to create a universal interface between humans and machines. While today's AI largely operates through chat boxes and decade-old devices, Hark is focused on what comes next: agentic systems that interact naturally with people and the real world.

To get there, we're developing multimodal models and next-generation AI hardware together - designed from the ground up as a single, unified interface for a new era of intelligent systems.

About the Role

You’ll own critical pieces of the firmware stack that powers Hark’s consumer products — from board bring‑up and peripheral drivers to the runtime environment that hosts on‑device intelligence. This isn't firmware in a vacuum. You’ll work directly with the hardware team on new silicon and sensor integrations, with the agent team on model execution and memory constraints, and with products on experiences that ship to real users. The problems are real, the constraints are tight, and the work matters immediately.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain embedded firmware in C/C++ targeting ARM-based SoCs and microcontrollers
• Own BSP development, peripheral driver integration (SPI, I2C, UART, I2S), and RTOS task scheduling
• Optimize power consumption and thermal performance for always‑on, battery‑powered operation
• Build and maintain OTA update infrastructure for reliable field updates
• Collaborate with the on‑device AI team to support model inference within memory and latency budgets
• Develop factory test and calibration firmware for manufacturing
• Debug complex hardware‑software interactions using logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, and JTAG

Requirements

• 3+ years of professional firmware or embedded systems development
• Strong proficiency in C and/or C++ in resource‑constrained environments
• Experience with ARM Cortex‑M or Cortex‑A processors and associated toolchains
• Hands‑on experience with RTOS (FreeRTOS, Zephyr, or similar)
• Familiarity with wireless protocols (BLE, Wi‑Fi, or Thread)
• Comfort reading schematics and working alongside hardware engineers during board bring‑up
• Experience with embedded debugging tools and workflows

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience with power optimization for battery‑powered consumer devices
• Familiarity with secure boot, firmware signing, or hardware root of trust
• Exposure to ML inference runtimes on embedded platforms
• Experience shipping consumer electronics through EVT/DVT/PVT milestones

Compensation

The US base salary range for this full‑time position is between $120,000 - $300,000 annually.

The pay offered for this position may vary based on several individual factors, including job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package may also include additional components/benefits depending on the specific role. This information will be shared if an employment offer is extended.