Firmware Engineer

Cosmic Frontier Labs; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Reproductive healthcare

HSA/FSA

Life and disability insurance

One Medical

401(k)

Education benefits

Cell phone reimbursement

Wi‑Fi reimbursement

One-time work-from-home stipend

Commuter benefits

Wellness programs

Job summary

Cosmic Frontier Labs is seeking a firmware engineer to bridge sensors, actuators, timing, and flight software for a high-reliability telescope system. You'll own embedded firmware end-to-end and drive hardware bring up on real boards with a focus on deterministic operation.

You will develop low-level drivers, interfaces, and telemetry, and contribute to HIL testing and robust fault handling in a fast-paced startup environment.

Qualifications

• Strong education in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering with significant embedded firmware experience.
• Proficiency in C or C++ for microcontrollers with low-level driver experience.
• Experience with board bring up and debugging with lab equipment and hardware/firmware integration.

Responsibilities

• Write and maintain firmware for embedded controllers interfacing with sensors and mechanisms with deterministic timing and fault handling.
• Own hardware bring up, drivers, and communications between embedded controllers and higher level compute.
• Build test hooks and HIL infrastructure for continuous firmware validation.

Skills

Embedded firmware

C/C++

Hardware bring up

Deterministic fault-tolerant firmware

Education

Electrical Engineering

Computer Engineering

Tools

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Hardware-in-the-loop

Job description

Cosmic Frontier’s mission is to dramatically expand access to high performance space telescopes, democratize the scientific process, and build tools for exploring the Universe.

Cosmic Frontier team members own the full lifecycle of spaceflight hardware and software, from early architecture through flight. We build and fly real hardware. The systems you build will go to orbit within the next two years.

Role Description:

We’re looking for a firmware engineer to build the embedded layer that makes the telescope behave, bridging sensors, actuators, timing, and flight software.

If you care deeply about reliability and like living close to the hardware, we want to talk.

What you’ll do:

• Write and maintain firmware for embedded controllers that interface with sensors and mechanisms, with deterministic timing and robust fault handling
• Own hardware bring up, drivers, and communications interfaces between embedded controllers and higher level compute
• Build test hooks and HIL infrastructure so firmware can be validated continuously, not only at the end

What Success looks like in the first 90 days:

• Bring up one real board or subsystem end to end and make it boring and reliable
• Establish a repeatable firmware build, test, and hardware regression loop
• Define the interface and telemetry contract that flight software will depend on

Required qualifications:

• Strong education background in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field, with significant experience developing embedded firmware for real time systems
• Strong proficiency in C or C++ for microcontrollers, with experience writing low level drivers and working close to hardware
• Experience with board bring up, debugging with lab equipment such as oscilloscopes and logic analyzers, and resolving hardware firmware integration issues
• Proven ability to design deterministic, fault tolerant firmware with clear telemetry, error handling, and interface definitions

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience with aerospace or other high reliability embedded systems operating in harsh environments
• Familiarity with common communication protocols such as SPI, I2C, CAN, UART, and Ethernet
• Experience building hardware in the loop or automated regression test infrastructure for embedded systems
• Comfortable operating in a fast paced startup environment with high ownership and minimal hand holding
• Medical, dental, vision, reproductive healthcare, HSA/FSA, life and disability insurance, One Medical.
• 401(k), education benefits, cell phone and Wi‑Fi reimbursement, one‑time work‑from‑home stipend, commuter benefits, wellness programs.

Export control:

Due to the nature of the products and information handled in this role, employment is restricted to U.S. Persons as defined by U.S. export control laws.

Salary Band:

• L4: $120,000 – $160,000
• L5: $170,000 – $250,000

Diversity and Inclusion:

We encourage anyone who is excited about this role to apply, even if you don’t meet 100% of the qualifications. We value builders with strong judgment, high ownership, and a track record of making complex systems work in the real world.

Recruiting, hiring, mentoring, and retaining a diverse workforce is critical to our success. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

Cosmic Frontier Labs is a Program and Operating Division of the Renaissance Philanthropy Fund. Renaissance Philanthropy is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

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