Principal Engineer, Embedded Systems
About The Position
We are a venture-backed, stealth-stage biotechnology company based in San Diego, focused on developing novel technologies that will redefine how disease is detected, characterized, and managed with a novel approach to clinical genomics. Our mission is to fundamentally transform healthcare through a convergence of innovation across multiple scientific disciplines. Founded by industry veterans with decades of experience in life sciences tools and diagnostics, our leadership team brings a proven track record of translating scientific insight into successful commercial products. Our investors include some of the most respected names in healthcare and deep tech. We are looking for a Principal Embedded Systems Engineer to take technical ownership of our embedded platform from early prototypes through production. This is a hands-on, high-impact individual contributor role, not a people-management position. You will set technical direction, solve the hardest system-level problems, and spend significant time in the lab bringing up hardware, debugging signals, and integrating real systems. You will work with high-performance real-time microcontrollers (Arm Cortex based), operating at the intersection of firmware, electronics, and system architecture.
Requirements
- BS/MS in Computer Science or Engineering
- 10+ years of embedded systems experience or equivalent demonstrated depth
- Proven ownership of MCU bring-up on new or custom hardware
- Expert-level embedded C/C++ skills
- Deep experience with real-time or high-performance MCUs (NXP, Infineon, STM32 ecosystems)
- Strong understanding of: Digital and analog electronics Clocking, timing, DMA, and interrupt systems Encoder interfaces and precision timing subsystems
- Exceptional ability to reason from datasheets, schematics, and signals on the wire
- Expert-level comfort with oscilloscopes and logic analyzers
- Experience debugging noisy, high-speed, or timing-critical signals
- Comfortable soldering and performing board-level rework
- Ability to independently wire, modify, and debug complex prototypes
- Working knowledge of PCB design tools (KiCad, Altium, Eagle) and layout tradeoffs
Nice To Haves
- Experience architecting multi-controller or distributed embedded systems
- Background in robotics, industrial automation, or precision instrumentation
- RTOS experience (FreeRTOS, Zephyr, etc.)
- Experience taking hardware from prototype through manufacturing
- Familiarity with EMC/ESD and field reliability issues
Responsibilities
- Own the embedded system architecture across firmware and hardware boundaries
- Define platform-level approaches for MCU selection, peripheral usage, and communication topology
- Establish standards for firmware structure, BSPs, drivers, and hardware abstraction
- Act as the escalation point for complex bring-up and system-level failures
- Influence electrical and mechanical design decisions to ensure robust embedded integration
- Lead first-power-on and first-silicon bring-up of new hardware
- Configure clocks, memory, boot modes, power domains, and pin multiplexing
- Design and review low-level firmware, including BSPs and peripheral drivers
- Architect and debug communication interfaces: SPI, I²C, UART CAN / CAN-FD Ethernet (as applicable) PWM, GPIO, ADC/DAC
- Architect, configure, and debug: Quadrature encoder / decoder interfaces Pulse train generators, timers, capture/compare subsystems, TTL signaling
- Lead integration of distributed embedded systems with many nodes
- Debug complex hardware/firmware interactions involving timing, noise, and signal integrity
- Use oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and signal generators to diagnose system-level issues
- Develop bring-up plans, validation strategies, and debug tooling
- Define observability and test hooks for long-term maintainability
- Perform hands-on electrical debugging and board-level troubleshooting
- Review schematics and PCB layouts with a firmware- and testability-first mindset
- Identify power, grounding, clocking, and signal integrity risks early
- Solder, rework, and modify prototypes as needed
- Design simple custom PCBs and breakout boards
- Wire and adapt MCU evaluation kits to custom system hardware
- Support rapid iteration cycles typical of an early-stage startup
Benefits
- Work in a dynamic, collaborative environment where innovation and scientific rigor are deeply valued.
- Join a seasoned and multidisciplinary team tackling high-impact problems at the intersection of science and engineering.
- Competitive compensation and equity package, comprehensive benefits, and flexibility to support work-life integration.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
Number of Employees
11-50 employees
