Quality Engineer - Safety Firmware

Samsara

7d•$89,845 - $151,000•Remote

About The Position

Samsara's Firmware Quality Engineering (FWQE) team ensures that the firmware powering millions of Physical AI–enabled IoT devices is robust, reliable, and customer-ready. Our devices run perception and ML workloads at the edge and feed the Connected Operations Cloud — and the firmware underneath has to be rock solid in trucks crossing deserts, on construction sites, and in cold-chain warehouses. We're looking for a Firmware Quality Engineer to plan, automate, and execute validation for MCU-based embedded firmware running on RTOS that powers our Physical AI devices in the field. You'll work hands-on across test planning, automation, system validation, and CI, partnering with firmware, hardware, AI/ML, and product teams to improve coverage, signal, and release confidence for devices deployed in demanding industrial environments with complex connectivity (cellular, GPS, BLE, Wi-Fi, CAN).

Requirements

3+ years of professional experience in embedded systems, firmware validation, or closely related hardware–software integration testing.
Hands-on experience testing RTOS-based embedded software (FreeRTOS, Zephyr, or equivalent), including familiarity with common debug interfaces, logging, and on-target instrumentation.
Proficiency in Python (or a similar language) for test automation, tooling, and log/data analysis.
Experience with Git and CI/CD systems (Jenkins, Buildkite, GitHub Actions, or equivalent), including integrating automated tests into pipelines and triaging flakes from real failures.
Hands-on experience building with AI — for example, integrating LLMs into test automation, developer tooling, or log analysis; validating ML-powered features; or shipping internal tools that leverage AI APIs. Comfort using AI coding assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, etc.) as part of your daily workflow.
Strong written communication and organization across test plans, bug reports, runbooks, and cross-team handoffs.
Ability to drive well-defined projects independently while escalating ambiguity and cross-team blockers appropriately.

Nice To Haves

Experience with wireless stacks and/or vehicle/industrial buses (e.g. BLE, Wi‑Fi, cellular, GPS, CAN).
Exposure to HIL, device farms, or protocol analyzers / bus tools.
Familiarity with metrics for quality (defect density, escape analysis, flaky-test tracking) and driving incremental improvements.
Comfort operating in Linux environments and command-line workflows for devices and automation.

Responsibilities

Develop and run test plans, manual and automated scenarios, and system-level validation for embedded firmware powering Physical AI devices across one or more product areas.
Implement and maintain automated tests and supporting tooling (Python scripts, frameworks, lab harnesses) to reduce manual effort and increase repeatability across firmware and edge AI feature validation.
Partner with firmware developers, hardware engineers, AI/ML engineers, and PMs to clarify requirements, close gaps in coverage, and drive issues to resolution with clear repro steps and evidence.
Contribute to test infrastructure and CI/CD integration (test jobs, artifacts, dashboards, coverage and pass-rate reporting) to shorten feedback loops for developers.
Help build, extend, and stabilize HIL setups, device fixtures, and simulation or mocking — including scenario-based testing for AI-driven and perception-dependent behaviors — to improve coverage of hardware-dependent functionality.
Participate in design and testability reviews, call out risks early, and improve testability (logging, hooks, configs, model telemetry) where feasible.
Support field validation, log capture and analysis, and triage for customer- or deployment-like issues, working with senior engineers on root-cause and verification.
Role-model customer obsession, high standards, ownership, and collaboration; seek feedback and continuously improve how we test.
Champion, role model, and embed Samsara’s cultural principles (Focus on Customer Success, Build for the Long Term, Adopt a Growth Mindset, Be Inclusive, Win as a Team) as we scale globally and across new offices.