Senior Edge Applications Engineer (Hardware & Embedded Systems Lab)

Renesas Electronics; Columbia (MD); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Renesas AIoT Center of Excellence in Columbia, MD seeks a Senior Edge Applications Engineer to build real-world sensor rigs and deploy intelligent edge software on Renesas silicon. You’ll assemble hardware, instrument high-frequency data, and optimize tiny models for microcontrollers, using DSP techniques and constrained firmware in C/C++.

Collaborate with customers and cross-functional teams, mentor junior engineers, and drive hands-on lab projects from concept to deployment in a setting with

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Electrical/Computer Engineering or related field.
• 2–3+ years of hands-on embedded software and hardware prototyping.
• Experience with DSP and time-series data on microcontrollers.
• Strong C/C++ for constrained MCUs and RTOS development.
• Experience with hardware lab tools and debugging (oscilloscopes, JTAG).

Responsibilities

• Physically prototype rigs and sensor setups in the lab.
• Develop DSP pipelines and deploy quantized models on MCU.
• Write real-time C/C++ firmware for microcontrollers.
• Interface with customers and product teams to troubleshoot edge firmware.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship in the lab.

Skills

Embedded firmware

C/C++

DSP

RTOS

Low-level debugging

Lab prototyping

Education

B.S./M.S. Electrical Engineering

BSEE

Tools

TFLite Micro

CMSIS-NN

eIQ

FreeRTOS

Zephyr

JTAG/SWD

Job description

Build Physical Rigs. Collect Real-World Sensor Data. Deploy Intelligent Systems on Silicon.

About the Role & The Reality AI Lab

The Renesas AIoT Center of Excellence in Columbia, MD (formerly Reality AI) is seeking a hands-on Senior Edge Applications Engineer to build and deploy intelligent edge solutions that integrate sensor processing with real-world hardware systems.

In this role, you will work directly in our physical lab facility, executing proof-of-concept (PoC) hardware builds, assembling custom sensor setups, and deploying constrained algorithms onto microcontrollers. You will operate at the exact intersection of small-scale physical fabrication, digital signal processing (DSP), C/C++ embedded firmware, and microcontroller-level system deployment.

You will execute non-visual sensing solutions—instrumenting physical hardware setups (industrial motors, automotive systems, consumer devices), collecting high-frequency time-series sensor data, building custom DSP pipelines, and optimizing tiny models to run on Renesas silicon.

Are you an Embedded Engineer or Applied Physicist who thrives in a physical lab environment building custom sensor rigs, soldering prototype boards, and squeezing intelligent algorithms onto microcontrollers?

Key Responsibilities

• Physical Prototyping & Fabrication: Hands-on assembly of prototype rigs, sensor arrays, 3D-printed mounts, and microelectronic setups to capture real-world physical data.
• High-Frequency Sensor Data Engineering: Instrument physical systems to capture, clean, and preprocess high-frequency time-series datasets (acoustic, vibration, electrical, motor current).
• DSP & On-Device Deployment: Build DSP feature extraction pipelines (FFTs, spectral analysis, filtering) and deploy optimized, quantized models onto microcontrollers (ARM Cortex-M, Renesas RA/RX/RL78) using TFLite Micro, CMSIS-NN, or eIQ.
• Embedded Firmware Development: Write real-time C/C++ firmware, bare-metal or RTOS drivers (FreeRTOS, Zephyr), DMA buffer management, and low-level peripheral communication (SPI, I2C, UART, CAN).
• Customer & Cross-BU Collaboration: Work directly with customers and internal product teams to ingest raw hardware telemetry, debug edge firmware issues, and demonstrate working hardware solutions.
• Technical Leadership & Mentorship: Lead junior engineers on lab tasks, document engineering best practices, and contribute technical leadership across cross-functional teams.

Qualifications

• Education: B.S. or Master’s in Electrical Engineering (BSEE), Computer Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related technical discipline.
• Career Experience: 2-3+ years of hands-on career experience in embedded software, physical hardware prototyping, digital signal processing, and real-time edge computing.
• Hardware & Lab Skills: Practical experience in physical system fabrication, 3D printing, electrical assembly, PCB bring-up, and low-level debugging with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and JTAG/SWD.
• Embedded Firmware: Strong C/C++ programming for constrained microcontrollers, bare-metal or RTOS (FreeRTOS, Zephyr), DMA buffer management, and low-level drivers (SPI, I2C, UART, CAN).
• Signal Processing & On-Device Intelligence: Solid understanding of digital signal processing (DSP) for time-series/audio data and practical experience deploying quantized algorithms directly onto microcontrollers.

Why Join Renesas?

• No SCIF / No Clearance: Enjoy complex signal processing and hardware challenges without defense contractor bureaucracy or classified workspace restrictions.
• Commercial Product Impact: What you build in our lab gets integrated into Renesas silicon and deployed into millions of industrial, automotive, and consumer devices globally.
• Startup Autonomy + Global Backing: Small-team environment (under 50 people in Columbia) backed by one of the world's premier semiconductor manufacturers.

Renesas is one of the top global semiconductor companies in the world. We strive to develop a safer, healthier, greener, and smarter world, and our goal is to make every endpoint intelligent by offering product solutions in the automotive, industrial, infrastructure, and IoT markets. Renesas employs roughly 21,000 people in more than 30 countries worldwide. Join us and build your future by being part of what’s next in electronics!