Platform Lead, Firmware Engineering

ALSO • Palo Alto, CA

1d

About The Position

We’re ALSO, an electric mobility company originally conceived as a part of Rivian. We’re a passionate team of builders, dreamers, doers and innovators, focused on creating entirely new (not to mention, innovative and delightful) vertically integrated, small EVs designed to meet the global mobility challenges of today and tomorrow. Our mission is to inspire everyone to ride ALSO—replacing many local car, truck and SUV miles with ones on vehicles that are more affordable, more enjoyable and 10-50x more efficient.
In this role, you will lead platform-level firmware development, owning the foundational software layers that enable all vehicle products—including drivers, operating system integration, and build infrastructure. You will serve as the primary point of contact for platform-related issues, coordinating with Vehicle Leads and Pod Leads to ensure stable, performant, and maintainable foundations. You will drive architectural decisions for the firmware platform and build systems, enabling teams to efficiently develop, test, and deploy firmware across the product portfolio.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in embedded software/firmware development, with demonstrated experience in platform, BSP, or infrastructure roles.
• MS in an engineering discipline, preferably Computer Science or Electrical Engineering.
• Expert-level driver development experience: I2C, SPI, UART, CAN, CAN-FD, GPIO, DMA, timers, ADC/DAC, and other MCU peripherals.
• Deep experience with real-time operating systems (FreeRTOS, Zephyr, ThreadX, or similar); understanding of scheduling, synchronization primitives, and memory management.
• Strong proficiency with Bazel or similar modern build systems (Buck, CMake at scale); experience managing complex multi-target embedded builds.
• Expert-level proficiency in C/C++ with deep understanding of embedded constraints (memory, timing, power).
• Experience with toolchain management: GCC/LLVM for ARM, linker scripts, startup code, and debugging tools (JTAG/SWD, trace).
• Strong understanding of hardware/software architecture tradeoffs: MCU selection, peripheral allocation, power domains.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines for embedded development (build automation, static analysis, unit testing frameworks).
• Excellent communication skills with ability to document complex systems and support cross-functional teams.
• Ability to work independently as a domain expert, driving platform decisions without requiring detailed direction.
• Experience with functional safety requirements and their impact on platform design (ISO 26262, IEC 61508).
• Familiarity with bootloader development, secure boot, and firmware update mechanisms (OTA).

Nice To Haves

• Experience with Zephyr RTOS or contributing to open-source embedded projects.
• Knowledge of static analysis tools (Coverity, PC-lint, clang-tidy) and their integration into build pipelines.
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing and emulation frameworks.
• Prior experience mentoring engineers on platform best practices and embedded fundamentals.

Responsibilities

• Platform Ownership: Serve as the single point of contact for all platform-level firmware issues, including drivers, OS, and build system concerns.
• Driver Development & Architecture: Lead the design and implementation of hardware abstraction layers, peripheral drivers, and board support packages across MCU families.
• Operating System Management: Own RTOS configuration, integration, and optimization; drive decisions on OS selection, task architecture, and resource management.
• Build System Leadership: Manage and evolve the Bazel-based build infrastructure; ensure reproducible builds, efficient dependency management, and scalable build configurations across targets.
• Sprint Planning: Define and organize platform targets for each sprint in coordination with Vehicle Leads and Pod Leads, balancing infrastructure investments with product delivery needs.
• Cross-Team Enablement: Partner with Vehicle Leads and Pod Leads to understand platform requirements; provide stable APIs and tooling that accelerate feature development.
• Architecture & Standards: Establish and enforce coding standards, driver interfaces, and platform APIs; make informed architectural decisions on MCU selection, memory management, and peripheral allocation.
• CI/CD Infrastructure: Drive build and test infrastructure improvements; maintain toolchains, manage compiler/linker configurations, and ensure fast, reliable CI pipelines.
• Documentation & Developer Experience: Own platform documentation, onboarding guides, and developer tooling to improve team velocity and reduce friction.
• Performance & Optimization: Lead efforts on boot time optimization, memory footprint reduction, and runtime performance tuning across the platform.

Benefits

• Robust health coverage. Excellent health, dental and vision insurance covered up to 100% by ALSO with FSA & HSA options.
• One Medical membership and dedicated insurance advocates.
• Rich fertility and family building benefits with Progyny.
• Flexible time off.
• 401(k) match.

What This Job Offers

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