Firmware Engineer

Chariot Defense•San Bruno, CA

8d•$130,000 - $180,000•Onsite

About The Position

Firmware is where our product meets the physical world. We're looking for a Firmware & Embedded Controls Engineer to own the low-level software that commands Chariot's power electronics, enforces our safety systems, and keeps the hardware running reliably when it's deployed in the field. You'll write code that runs on bare metal and on real-time operating systems in systems languages like C and Rust, directly controlling significant electrical power flowing through real hardware in austere, resource-constrained environments where failure isn't an option. You will directly shape the firmware architecture that goes into Amphora and future products. Our team comes from Tesla, Anduril, Apple, Archer, and the U.S. military. We build hardware that operators depend on in the field and we hold our firmware to that same standard, because lives depend on it. This is a high-ownership, high-impact, hands-on role for someone who wants to write code that moves real power and see it operate in real conditions.

Requirements

BS in Electrical/Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent demonstrated experience.
3+ years writing firmware for hardware that ships and runs in the field.
Hands-on bare-metal and RTOS development.
Fluency in C/C++ for resource-constrained, real-time targets.
Demonstrated experience bringing up and debugging firmware on real hardware.

Nice To Haves

Production Rust experience on embedded targets.
Firmware for power electronics, motor control, or battery management.
Experience with safety-critical or fault-tolerant systems
Experience with ISO26262, DO-178C, or other software functional safety standards
Embedded comms interfaces (CAN, SPI, I2C, UART).

Responsibilities

Power electronics control: Write and tune the firmware that commands inverters, chargers, and battery systems to convert and move electrical energy correctly, safely, and efficiently.
Safety systems: Build the real-time fault-detection and protection logic that reacts in milliseconds to protect the hardware and the people operating near it; treat safety as core to the design.
Thermal control: Implement the control logic that keeps power components within safe operating temperatures under load and across environmental extremes.
Data acquisition & telemetry: Collect readings from sensors across the system, and package and export that data so it can be monitored, recorded, and analyzed downstream.
User input & system interaction: Implement how operators command and interact with the system in the field.
Bare-metal and RTOS development: Architect and deploy firmware across bare-metal targets and real-time operating systems, making the right call on timing, determinism, and resource constraints.
Cross-functional integration: Work shoulder-to-shoulder with electrical, power electronics, and hardware engineers, managing the tight coupling between electrical I/O and firmware behavior, and supporting hardware bring-up and debug on the bench.