Staff Firmware Engineer

Watney Robotics; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Watney Robotics is seeking a firmware engineer to write and bring up firmware for our robot mainboards and actuators. You will collaborate with manufacturing partners, ML, and mechanical teams to enable new boards and embodiments.

You’ll build drivers and HALs, run hardware-in-the-loop tests, and help shape a common firmware base across architectures. Strong C/Rust experience is essential.

Qualifications

• Shipped production firmware to millions of devices.
• Proficient in Rust and/or C for embedded systems.
• Experience debugging hardware interfaces and buses.
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop testing and OEM collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Lead board bring-up with manufacturing partners from spec discovery to first boot.
• Write drivers and HALs for microcontrollers and actuators.
• Build and run automated hardware-in-the-loop tests across embodiments.
• Create a common firmware base for mainboards and actuators in Rust and C.
• Collaborate with ML and mechanical teams to prototype and validate new sensors.

Skills

Production firmware

Rust

C

Hardware-in-the-loop

Contract manufacturers / OEMs

Electromechanical systems / optics

RF knowledge

Job description

Our Mission

Expand human ambition in the physical world.

Critical infrastructure is constrained by labor shortages, hazardous working conditions, and operational complexity. Watney builds and deploys autonomous robotic systems that increase the speed and capacity of buildout, starting with data centers.

About the Role

At Watney, firmware engineers write the firmware for our robots’ mainboards and actuators, and bring up new boards with our manufacturing partners. They work with our mechanical, electrical, and ML teams as new sensors and embodiments arrive.

How far firmware can take a robot on its own is still an open question: which faults a board can recover from without a person, and how one design carries across new boards and embodiments.

The firmware you write sets how reliable and safe every robot is. The architecture bets you make carry into every robot we build after this one.

What You’ll Do

• Lead board bring-up with our manufacturing partners, from specification discovery through first boot.
• Write the drivers and hardware abstraction layers that run on our microcontrollers and actuators.
• Build and run automated hardware-in-the-loop tests across embodiments.
• Build the common firmware base for mainboards and actuators, in Rust and C.
• Work with the ML and mechanical teams to prototype and validate new sensors.

You May Be a Good Fit If You:

• Have shipped production firmware to millions of devices.
• Have written production firmware in Rust, C, or both.
• Have debugged communication buses on real hardware.
• Have built or operated hardware-in-the-loop test infrastructure.
• Have worked with contract manufacturers or OEMs to turn ambiguous requirements into a board layout.
• Have worked with electromechanical systems or cameras and optics, electrically, mechanically, or in software.
• Have working knowledge of electrical engineering and either field-oriented control or RF.

We’re committed to building a diverse, inclusive team. At Watney Robotics, we welcome people of all backgrounds and identities, and we make hiring decisions based on skills, experience, and potential. If you’re passionate about robotics but don’t meet every requirement, we still encourage you to apply!

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