Head of Embedded Software — Lead Real-Time Firmware for ESS

peakenergy; Burlingame (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Peak Energy in Burlingame, California, is seeking a Head of Embedded Software to lead the firmware team for our gigawatt-scale sodium-ion energy storage systems.

This hands-on leadership role will set the technical direction, own the firmware roadmap end-to-end, and drive safety-critical code paths, hardware bring-up, and cross-functional collaboration. You’ll manage a team of ~6 engineers and shape the culture of engineering rigor as production scales toward 2027.

Qualifications

• 10-15+ years of hands-on embedded software experience.
• Deep expertise in real-time embedded firmware (C++, RTOS).
• Experience shipping multiple hardware products from prototype to production.
• 2+ years of people management experience.
• Strong debugging with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and debuggers.

Responsibilities

• Set technical direction and architecture for the embedded stack across the ESS platform.
• Contribute hands-on firmware for real-time C++ RTOS-based systems.
• Own architectural and safety-case decisions for embedded domain.
• Lead code reviews and establish coding standards.
• Drive hardware bring-up, integration, validation, and field support with the team.
• Manage a team of ~6 engineers, hiring, onboarding, and growth.
• Establish standups, planning, retros, on-call rotation, and technical decision reviews.
• Plan to hire 2-3 more engineers in the next 12 months.

Skills

Embedded software

Real-time firmware

C++

RTOS

Safety-critical systems

Hardware bring-up

People management

System architecture

Tools

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Debuggers

Job description

Peak Energy in Burlingame, California, is seeking a Head of Embedded Software to lead the firmware team for our gigawatt-scale sodium-ion energy storage systems.

This hands-on leadership role will set the technical direction, own the firmware roadmap end-to-end, and drive safety-critical code paths, hardware bring-up, and cross-functional collaboration. You’ll manage a team of ~6 engineers and shape the culture of engineering rigor as production scales toward 2027.