Firmware Engineer

Veralto•Austin, TX

7d•Onsite

About The Position

Kipp & Zonen is seeking a Firmware Engineer to join its Austin-based R&D team and develop reliable embedded firmware for solar sensing and controls products. This P3-level role contributes across the full product lifecycle, from new product design and production release through sustaining support. Work includes bare-metal microcontroller development, embedded Linux, hardware bring-up, automated verification, debugging, and release readiness. The position is full-time and fully on-site in North Central Austin, near The Domain. The engineer will work closely with hardware, systems, manufacturing, quality, and support teams to improve product performance and reliability. The role combines hands-on firmware development and laboratory work with structured investigation, verification, release documentation, and ongoing support for products used in demanding field environments.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, software engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, or another related STEM field; candidates with a less directly related STEM degree may be considered with extensive hands-on production firmware experience.
Typically five or more years of hands-on embedded firmware experience; candidates with fewer years may be considered if they demonstrate strong technical depth and experience developing and shipping new products.
Strong bare-metal embedded C expertise, including practical debugging on resource-constrained microcontroller systems.
Experience developing and releasing production-quality firmware for new products, not solely sustaining or maintenance work.
Experience with MCU peripherals and hardware/software interfaces such as SPI, I²C, UART, CAN, Ethernet, or similar.
Ability to read schematics and datasheets and use oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, multimeters, and debuggers.
Hands-on experience with hardware bring-up, peripheral integration, firmware validation, or production release support.
Experience investigating system-level issues using structured debugging, test evidence, and root-cause analysis.
Experience with Python for test tools, automated verification workflows, regression testing, or embedded Linux development.
Willingness to work on-site and collaborate closely with hardware, software, manufacturing, quality, and support teams.
Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
Strong communication skills and a collaborative, team-oriented mindset.

Nice To Haves

Embedded Linux experience, particularly with Yocto.
Experience with C# or another object-oriented programming language and the ability to apply object-oriented design principles.
Experience with solar, renewable energy, industrial instrumentation, outdoor products, or sensor-based measurement systems.
Experience with bootloaders, firmware update mechanisms, diagnostics, or secure firmware practices.
Experience with CI/CD, repeatable builds, firmware release discipline, or automated regression testing.
Ability to learn new technologies or programming languages quickly and apply them to unfamiliar products.
Experience with failure analysis of returned or fielded products, low-power systems, or ruggedized embedded products.

Responsibilities

Design, implement, review, and debug bare-metal embedded firmware in C for MCU-based solar sensing and controls products.
Build Python-based test tools, automated regression workflows, and release-quality verification methods.
Develop embedded Linux services, diagnostics, and application logic.
Perform hands-on hardware bring-up and integrate sensors, ADCs, communications interfaces, memory, and other peripherals using schematics, datasheets, and lab tools.
Investigate system, production, and field failures using instrumentation, logs, controlled experiments, and structured root-cause analysis.
Support firmware release readiness with test evidence, release notes, risk documentation, and cross-functional review.
Partner with hardware, systems, manufacturing, quality, and support teams to resolve issues and improve product performance.
Document firmware designs, debugging findings, test procedures, release decisions, and sustaining actions.