Senior Staff Embedded Software Engineer

Ford; Long Beach, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 190,000 - 317,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision coverage

Flexible family care days

Vehicle discount program

Tuition assistance

Paid time off

Job summary

Ford is seeking an experienced firmware engineer to lead the design and implementation of software for HV embedded systems. You will collaborate across electrical architecture, system integration, and platform software teams to deliver robust firmware for energy management and motor controls.

The role requires 8+ years in embedded design, strong Embedded C skills, and experience with RTOS, multi-core architectures, and software testing.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or Computer Engineering.
• 8+ years of relevant experience in embedded design.
• High proficiency in Embedded C programming.
• Highly collaborative mindset and strong communication skills.
• Experience with JIRA/Confluence or a similar system.
• Knowledge of electrical engineering fundamentals including circuit analysis and design.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and implementation of firmware on a distributed embedded system focusing on power/energy optimization and safety.
• Specify, design, implement, and test bare metal and RTOS low-level software for energy management and powertrain controls.
• Develop embedded software from low-level base software to application modules.
• Design and specify interfaces between application software and firmware.
• Develop multicore, timing-critical software architectures.
• Work with/resolve ambiguity in requirements/specifications/designs.
• Create elegant, efficient real-time software components and interfaces.
• Develop software component testing methodologies and implementations for maturity and release readiness.
• Work with hardware and debuggers at bench and HIL level to verify software operation.
• Design ISO26262 compliant software.
• Define system-level power requirements and implement low-power modes for each MCU.
• Instrument and profile software to identify optimization opportunities at submodule/system level.
• Early firmware phases will focus on hardware validation, LabCar testing, and building the unit automation framework (SIL/HIL).
• Develop comprehensive test plans and perform thorough testing for stability and performance.

Skills

Embedded C

RTOS

Multi-core MCU

CI/CD familiarity

Hardware debugging

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or Computer Engineering

Tools

JIRA/Confluence

Job description

Our team develops firmware and controls for HV embedded systems including battery management systems, charging and motor controls. In this role, you will be collaborating with many cross-functional teams from electrical architecture, system integration, and other platform software engineers for firmware development through all stages of the program development.

What you’ll do

• Lead the design and implementation of the firmware running on a distributed embedded system with multiple microcontrollers with a focus on optimizing power/energy consumption and safety.
• Specification, design, implementation, and testing of both bare metal and RTOS low-level software for energy management and powertrain controls applications.
• Develop embedded software from low-level base software to application modules.
• Design and specify interfaces between application software and firmware.
• Develop multicore, timing-critical software architectures.
• Work with/resolve ambiguity in requirements/specifications/designs.
• Create elegant, efficient real-time software components and interfaces.
• Develop software component testing methodologies and implementations to ensure maturity/stability/release readiness.
• Work with hardware and debuggers at a bench and HIL level to verify software operation.
• Design ISO26262 compliant software.
• Define system-level power requirements and implement low-power modes of operation for each of the microcontrollers.
• Instrument and profile software to identify opportunities for optimization on the submodule and system level.
• Early phases of firmware development will focus on hardware validation, labcar testing, and setting up the automation framework for a unit. SIL and HIL testing.
• Develop comprehensive test plans and perform thorough testing to validate firmware functionality, stability, and performance under various conditions, including low power modes.

You’ll have

• Hands-on hardware bring-up, system debugging, and code optimization.
• Ability to collaborate and communicate complex technical concepts.
• Ability to deliver high-quality C code in a real-time embedded environment.
• Proficiency in a variety of embedded architectures, from bare metal to RTOS implementations, as well as a deep understanding of modern multi‑core 32‑bit embedded controller peripherals and architecture.
• Understanding of CI/CD pipeline and software build infrastructure.

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, experience with evidence of exceptional ability, or equivalent.
• 8+ years of relevant experience in embedded design
• High proficiency in programming experience using Embedded C
• Highly collaborative mindset and strong communication skills
• Experience with JIRA/Confluence or a similar system for tracking inputs/results.
• Knowledge of electrical engineering fundamentals including circuit analysis and design

Even better, you may have

• Experience in low‑level driver development and RTOS integration.
• Experience with software build tools like Bazel, Scons, Cmake etc.
• Experience with fundamental hardware components on PCB and their analysis tools.
• Ability to write testing scripts for using scripting languages (Python)
• Fluent in software fundamentals including software design and maintainability.
• Hands‑on experience in hardware bring‑up, system debugging, and code optimization.
• Knowledge of electrical engineering fundamentals including circuit analysis and design

As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose what your Ford future will look like: will your story span the globe, or keep you close to home? Will your career be a deep dive into what you love, or a series of new teams and new skills? Will you be a leader, a changemaker, a technical expert, a culture builder...or all of the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including:

• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp‑up programs, subsidized back‑up child care and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service
• A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.

This position is a leadership level 5 and ranges from $167,200-$316,600

Final determination of salary grade will be based on candidate's skills and experience, and base salary will be set within the applicable range according to job scope, responsibility and competitive market value.

Internal applicants: moving into this role may result in an adjustment to your current compensation based on the posted pay range for this role, taking into consideration your qualifications and other relevant factors.

Visa sponsorship is available for this position.

Candidates for positions with Ford Motor Company must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status. In the United States, if you need a reasonable accommodation for the online application process due to a disability, please call 1-888-336-0660.

This position is hybrid with a requirement to be onsite four or more days per week.