Embedded Firmware Engineer, Hardware Bring-up & Controls

Voyant Photonics • New York, NY

4d • $140,000 - $170,000 • Onsite

About The Position

Voyant Photonics is hiring an embedded software engineer to bring up new boards and own the drivers and control firmware that run on them. The role combines hands-on board bring-up with implementing control loops and validating them on hardware. The engineer will work across firmware and hardware, from first power-on through deployment, and collaborate closely with hardware, optics, signal processing, and firmware teams. The position is based primarily in person at the company’s Midtown Manhattan lab and office. The work environment is flexible rather than tied to a rigid 9-to-5 schedule; some customer calls may start early or run late, with schedules adjusted accordingly.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, computer science, or a related field.
• At least 2 years of professional embedded software experience.
• Experience programming microcontrollers in C or C++, such as ARM Cortex-M or STM32, using bare-metal systems or an RTOS. Strong embedded C engineers are encouraged to apply.
• Working knowledge of control theory, including PID, loop shaping, stability margins, and state-space design, and an understanding of their firmware costs.
• Experience with firmware-side board bring-up, including schematics, datasheets, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and small component reworks.
• Python skills for test automation and data analysis.

Nice To Haves

• Experience measuring plant response and performing system identification on real hardware.
• Experience with MIMO and decoupling, observers, PLLs and tracking loops, or online optimization such as extremum seeking for multi-channel systems.
• Lab automation experience, including scripting oscilloscopes, power supplies, and generators using SCPI/VISA.
• Experience debugging across an FPGA or ASIC boundary.
• Experience with thermal, motor/actuator, or optical systems.

Responsibilities

• Implement real-time embedded control algorithms in C++, accounting for discretization, sample-rate and latency budgets, anti-windup, saturation handling, and numerical robustness in fixed- and floating-point implementations.
• Write drivers and firmware structures for new boards, keeping them reusable for future boards.
• Bring up new boards by working with firmware and hardware together; read schematics and datasheets, probe signals, debug SPI, I2C, UART, and custom chip interfaces, and perform small SMT reworks when needed.
• Build test setups and Python analysis to demonstrate that drivers and control loops meet their requirements on hardware, including PID loops and tuning switch elements across optical networks.
• Feed findings from board bring-up back to the hardware team to help future board revisions come up faster.
• Use measured hardware data to challenge or refine plant models and control designs.
• Collaborate across the engineering organization and influence technical direction.

Benefits

• Equity in an early-stage startup.
• Catered lunch every day at company headquarters.
• Mentorship from leadership with experience deploying hardware to customers around the world.

What This Job Offers

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