EE Firmware and Applications Engineer

Cohu • San Diego, CA

2d

About The Position

This role acts as a technical bridge between the sales team and customers, ensuring products and/or software are effectively customized, installed, and supported. The engineer will analyze client needs, provide pre/post-sales technical support, conduct product demonstrations, and create custom technical solutions. A key responsibility is to evaluate the feasibility and risk of new concepts using first-principles physics and empirical modeling. The position involves delivering new or updating electrical firmware to implement control solutions derived from customer interactions and application involvement. The role also encompasses the development, integration, and lifecycle support of complex electrical control systems, with a strong emphasis on firmware-related system integration and thermal system concepts for integration into electro-mechanical robotic systems.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, electrical engineering, control engineering or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in the application support and firmware development of complex mechatronic systems, ideally in semiconductor backend equipment.
• Minimum of 5 years as a direct engineer in a discipline, preferably firmware development.
• Strong proficiency in C and C++.
• Strong understanding of microcontroller architecture, memory management, and digital circuit design.
• Experience with technical standards and industrial development processes.
• Experience in bootloader development and using GIT/SVN.
• Experience with communication protocols like UART, SPI, I2C, CAN, EtherCAT.
• Strong analytical and debugging skills to resolve complex technical challenges.
• Understanding and/or working experience with thermal systems, motion control, control systems.
• Willingness to travel as required for projects and customer support.
• Excellent English communication skills.

Nice To Haves

• MSc, MEng, etc. desired.
• EtherCAT experience is a plus.
• German and/or French is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Present technical solutions and resolve system-level issues in collaboration with customers and stakeholders.
• Collaborate with hardware engineers to interpret schematics, test prototypes, and validate hardware-software interaction.
• Develop firmware for microcontrollers (e.g., ARM Cortex-M) in C/C++, focusing on bare-metal or RTOS environments.
• Debug system issues using logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, and JTAG tools to troubleshoot code.
• Maintain technical documentation, including design specifications and code comments.
• Create low-level drivers for hardware peripherals (GPIOs, ADCs, Timers) and communication interfaces (CAN, USB, Bluetooth, IoT protocols).
• Act as a technical interface to internal departments as well as customers and external partners.
• Definition, alignment, and implementation of system requirements in close collaboration with hardware and mechanical engineering teams.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level