Principal Engineer, Embedded Systems

Socket.dev; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Edgerun is seeking a Principal Engineer, Embedded Systems, to lead the firmware stack for advanced exoskeleton systems used in combat. You will define architecture, drive real-time motor control, sensor fusion, and safety-critical features while guiding a team of seasoned engineers.

The role requires owning end-to-end firmware development, from low-level control loops to high-level system integration, in a fast-paced environment. Palo Alto-based, onsite with occasional field work.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in EE, CE, CS or related field.
• 8+ years embedded firmware experience with shipped hardware.
• Proficiency in embedded C/C++ and real-time systems.
• Experience with motor control, sensors, and embedded firmware architecture.

Responsibilities

• Own the full control stack: FOC and current loop, torque control, joint control, gait and assist algorithm, and user intent detection.
• Set architecture, interfaces, and standards for the team.
• Decide behavior under fault conditions and edge cases (sensor faults, low battery, abnormal loads).
• Own OTA firmware updates, rollback, and telemetry link to app.
• Build data collection to inform design decisions.
• Hire and lead firmware engineers and mentor the team.
• Run field tests and translate findings into system changes.

Skills

Embedded C/C++

Real-time systems

Firmware ownership

8+ years embedded firmware

Education

Bachelor's degree in EE/CE/CS

Tools

CAN bus

RTOS

MCU knowledge

Job description

Edgerun's mission is to remove civilization-level physical constraints limiting the human body. We believe a future where humans keep pushing into the unknown is far better than one where we send machines in our place. That starts on the battlefield, doubling what a soldier can carry and how far they can carry it. Read more about our mission here.

PRINCIPAL ENGINEER, EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

As a Principal Engineer of Embedded Systems, you will be responsible for advancing technical boundaries of firmware and control for the world's most advanced powered exoskeleton systems, worn by soldiers in active combat. You will work with a talented team of accomplished engineers to develop the embedded software stack, including real-time motor control, gait detection, human intent inference, and sensor fusion. You should thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment where you adapt quickly, love to solve hard problems, and are confident enough to make the call and secure enough to take real pushback on it.

This is a foundational role. Your architecture and decisions will define what this company builds for years to come.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Own the full control stack: FOC and current loop, torque control, joint control, the gait and assist algorithm, and user intent detection above it
• Set the architecture, interfaces, and standards the rest of the engineering team writes against
• Decide how the device behaves when something goes wrong: sensor faults, low battery, unexpected loads
• Own the update path: over-the-air firmware, rollback, and the telemetry link to the app
• Build the data collection that turns field use into design decisions
• Hire and lead the firmware engineers who build under you
• Run field tests and turn what you see there into changes to the system

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, or another engineering discipline
• 8+ years of embedded firmware experience, including ownership of a complete stack on hardware that shipped and was used by real people
• Proficiency in embedded C or C++ and real-time systems
• BLDC motor control at the loop level: FOC, current and torque control, and position, velocity, or impedance control

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• You can name the MCU, the RTOS or bare metal design, the loop rates, and why you chose each
• Encoder processing, IMU and sensor fusion, high frequency control loops, and CAN
• Running learned models on a microcontroller: quantization, inference budgets, and keeping a network fed inside a hard real-time loop
• State machine or actor-based embedded architectures, built-in self test, and fault handling on hardware people depend on
• You understand how the physical product gets built, not only how it is programmed. You have specified parts, worked with suppliers, and know what manufacturing does to an electronics design
• You have set architecture other engineers wrote against, and you still write code yourself
• You have taken over someone else's system, including undocumented or inherited code, and made it yours
• Safety-critical or medical device firmware
• Debugging hardware you cannot physically touch, from logs alone
• Things you build outside work: motor controllers, robots, your own RTOS

HOW WE WORK

• Hardware on real operators in real field conditions within weeks of concept, not years
• Firmware updates ship over the air every one to two weeks
• Small team, one owner per category, nobody owning a slice of someone else's problem

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Full time and in person in Palo Alto
• Travel to field tests, including overseas
• Must be willing to work extended hours and/or weekends as needed