Firmware Engineer - Fully Remote | Up to $120/hr

mercor; United States; Remote; USD 138,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor, a San Francisco‑based company connecting elite talent with AI research labs, seeks Software & Firmware Engineering Experts for remote contract work. You will apply hands-on expertise across software, firmware, FPGA/RTL, and hardware interfaces on real hardware systems.

Ideal candidates have 5+ years in software/firmware/embedded engineering, hands-on hardware experience, and strong debugging skills with JTAG/SWD and oscilloscopes; familiarity with C/C++, Python, RTOS, and embedded Linux

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 technologies like C/C++, Python, RTOS, embedded Linux, and FPGA toolchains.

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

Embedded systems

C/C++

Python

RTOS

embedded Linux

FPGA/RTL design

Hardware test automation

Tools

JTAG/SWD debuggers

Oscilloscopes

FPGA toolchains

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

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 .