Firmware Engineer - Fully Remote

Mercor; San Francisco (CA); Remote; USD 138,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor, headquartered in San Francisco, seeks Software & Firmware Engineering Experts for a contract remote role with compensation $100–$120/hour. You will work on software, firmware, and digital hardware for real physical systems across embedded platforms.

Responsibilities include reviewing embedded firmware, FPGA/RTL designs, flight software, and test frameworks; evaluating hardware interfaces and real-time trade-offs. Strong C/C++, Python, RTOS, and FPGA tooling are required.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience in software, firmware, FPGA, or embedded systems engineering.
• At least 3 years of recent hands-on experience with real hardware.
• Experience as the responsible engineer for production hardware-connected software or firmware.
• Deep expertise in embedded firmware, FPGA/RTL design, flight software, or hardware test automation.
• Strong command of C/C++, Python, RTOS, embedded Linux, and FPGA toolchains.
• Extensive experience debugging software-hardware interactions using tools like JTAG/SWD debuggers and oscilloscopes.
• Proven experience in real-world product or hardware manufacturing environments.

Responsibilities

• Apply hands-on expertise in software, firmware, and digital hardware to complex engineering tasks involving real physical systems.
• Review and evaluate embedded firmware, FPGA/RTL designs, flight software, test automation frameworks, and hardware interfaces.
• Analyze architecture and implementation trade-offs involving real-time performance, timing, memory, and hardware/software integration.
• Assess technical correctness, robustness, and feasibility of solutions for embedded and hardware-connected systems.
• Identify implementation errors, race conditions, interface failures, and other system-level failure modes.
• Develop or review engineering problems, reference implementations, test cases, and technical documentation.

Skills

C/C++

Python

RTOS

Embedded Linux

FPGA toolchains

JTAG/SWD

Real hardware

Hardware debugging

Tools

Oscilloscopes

JTAG/SWD debuggers

FPGA RTL design

Job description

About the job

Mercor connects elite creative and technical talent with leading AI research labs. Headquartered in San Francisco, our investors include Benchmark, General Catalyst, Peter Thiel, Adam D'Angelo, Larry Summers, and Jack Dorsey.

Position: Software & Firmware Engineering Experts
Type: Contract
Compensation: $100–$120/hour
Location: Remote

Role Responsibilities

• Apply hands‑on expertise in software, firmware, and digital hardware to complex engineering tasks involving real physical systems.
• Review and evaluate embedded firmware, FPGA/RTL designs, flight software, test automation frameworks, and hardware interfaces.
• Analyze architecture and implementation trade-offs involving real‑time performance, timing, memory, and hardware/software integration.
• Assess technical correctness, robustness, and feasibility of solutions for embedded and hardware‑connected systems.
• Identify implementation errors, race conditions, interface failures, and other system‑level failure modes.
• Develop or review engineering problems, reference implementations, test cases, and technical documentation.

Qualifications

Must‑Have

• 5+ years of professional experience in software, firmware, FPGA, or embedded systems engineering.
• At least 3 years of recent hands‑on experience with real hardware.
• Experience as the responsible engineer for production hardware‑connected software or firmware.
• Deep expertise in embedded firmware, FPGA/RTL design, flight software, or hardware test automation.
• Strong command of technologies like C/C++, Python, RTOS, embedded Linux, and FPGA toolchains.
• Extensive experience debugging software‑hardware interactions using tools like JTAG/SWD debuggers and oscilloscopes.
• Proven experience in real‑world product or hardware manufacturing environments.

Preferred

• Experience with companies designing, building, and manufacturing physical hardware or embedded systems.
• Relevant organizations include Lockheed Martin, Blue Origin, Tesla, NVIDIA, Apple, Skydio, Siemens, and Medtronic.