Sr. to Staff Firmware / Embedded Software Engineer - Delivery Drones

Skyrocket Ventures; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 300,000 - 800,000; Full time

Job summary

Skyrocket Ventures is seeking a Sr. to Staff Firmware/Embedded Software Engineer in San Francisco to lead the development of firmware for autonomous delivery drones. The role involves designing firmware for motion control and collaborating with electrical engineers. Candidates should have a Bachelor's degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering, with at least 5 years of experience in embedded systems and expertise in C/ARM microcontrollers. The position offers a flexible hybrid work schedule and competitive compensation between $300k and $800k annually.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years of experience in embedded systems development.
• Expertise in bare-metal programming on ARM microcontrollers.
• Strong experience with C and proficiency in C++ for firmware design.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of ARM-based microcontroller platforms.
• Design, implement, and validate firmware for robotics products.
• Collaborate with engineers on hardware bring-up and integration.

Skills

Embedded systems development

C programming

C++ programming

ARM microcontrollers

Low-level debugging

System-level thinking

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering

Tools

RTOS (FreeRTOS, Zephyr)

Embedded Linux

Job description

Sr. to Staff Firmware / Embedded Software Engineer - Delivery Drones

San Francisco, CA (you can work from home up to 2x/week)

The team builds small, lightweight autonomous delivery drones with safety-first hardware designed to operate around people and everyday urban infrastructure. The work has a positive impact on the sustainability, access, and cost of everyday necessities.

You would be joining an elite group of about 60 people and 20 engineers inside a much larger public company. This org operates as a small, fast-moving hardware innovation lab: minimal bureaucracy, real build/test cycles, and ownership of systems that ship and operate at a very large scale.

The company has a compensation range based on experience, with salary of $180k-$340k, plus RSUs translating into total first year compensation of $300k-800k.

Job Responsibilities:

• Leading the development and bring-up of ARM-based microcontroller platforms across our robotics products. This is a high-ownership role, directly responsible for building the low-level firmware that powers our platforms
• Designing, implementing, and validating firmware for motion control, sensor integration, communications, power management, and safety-critical functionality.
• This role comes with a strong expectation of hands‑on board bring‑up, low‑level debugging, and cross‑disciplinary collaboration with electrical and systems engineers.
• Owning the firmware bring‑up and integration for new embedded platforms (e.g. ARM Cortex‑M series).
• Developing and maintaining bare‑metal firmware and RTOS‑based applications for robotic subsystems (motor control, sensors, telemetry, power systems).
• Writing and maintaining robust, maintainable, and well‑documented C/C++ code for embedded targets.
• Collaborating with the electrical engineering team on hardware bring‑up, schematic review, and system integration.
• Leading system bringup, validation, and debug
• Contributing to firmware safety, reliability, and system‑level robustness.

Qualifications:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or similar.
• At least 5 (preferably more) years of hands‑on experience in embedded systems development.
• Deep expertise in bare‑metal programming on ARM microcontrollers.
• Expertise with C, and proficiency with C++ for embedded targets and firmware design patterns.
• Experience with hardware bring‑up and low‑level debugging on custom boards.
• Understanding of digital electronics, buses (I2C, SPI, UART, CAN), and embedded peripherals.
• Strong system‑level thinking, with an ability to work independently and take ownership across the full development cycle.

Nice to have:

• Experience with RTOS (e.g., FreeRTOS, Zephyr) or Embedded Linux on constrained systems.
• Familiarity with motor control, power systems, or battery management in robotics or automotive contexts.
• Experience working closely with hardware teams, reading schematics, and performing board‑level debug.
• Familiarity with safety‑critical systems, watchdogs, and fault handling.
• Comfortable working in fast‑paced, high‑ownership engineering environments like those found in startups or advanced R&D teams.