Senior Staff Systems Engineer, Embedded Safety
About The Position
Boston Dynamics is hiring a Senior Staff Systems Engineer on the Safer Robotics Team to develop safe, reliable, and reactive robotic technologies for mobile robots operating alongside humans in complex environments. The role leads systems engineering methodology for MCU/MPU-based embedded systems and safety-critical firmware, spanning requirements generation, structured safety analysis, and architecture trade studies. The engineer serves as a technical bridge between hardware constraints, firmware execution, and test validation. The role works closely with Safety Firmware Engineers during board bring-up and driver development, and with Staff Firmware Test Engineers building HIL/SIL validation frameworks. It also supports cross-functional teams in establishing embedded architectures, firmware requirements, development plans, verification evidence, and safety cases for autonomous robotic systems.
Requirements
- At least 7 years of experience in systems engineering, embedded software/firmware development, or firmware validation for complex mechatronic or safety-critical robotic systems.
- Technical command of Git, Linux, Jira, and requirements management platforms such as Jama.
- Proficiency in C/C++ for embedded firmware and Python, including pytest ecosystems, for engagement with firmware development and test automation tooling.
- Familiarity with safety standards such as IEC 61508, ISO 26262, or IEC 62304, and experience compiling data to support safety claims.
- Ability to read electrical schematics, datasheets, and low-level protocol payloads for SPI, I2C, CAN, UART, and Ethernet.
- Experience acting as a technical liaison between firmware development and product development teams.
- Strong written and verbal communication, cross-functional collaboration, and conflict resolution skills.
- Must be eligible to work in the United States; visa sponsorship is not available.
Nice To Haves
- Experience with firmware coding standards such as MISRA C/C++.
- Experience with static and dynamic analysis software tools.
- Familiarity with software and hardware testing for HIL/SIL environments.
- Experience with embedded Linux (kernel and user space), real-time operating systems (RTOS), and hardware debuggers/trace equipment such as J-Link, Lauterbach, oscilloscopes, and logic analyzers.
- Hands-on familiarity with electro-mechanical actuation subsystems, including motor controllers, encoders, and power/current sensing.
Responsibilities
- Lead cross-functional systems engineering initiatives to establish embedded system architectures, firmware requirements, and technical development plans for safe autonomous robotic platforms.
- Solicit stakeholder needs and derive, author, and parameterize system, firmware, and low-level software requirements.
- Establish and maintain end-to-end requirements-to-verification traceability pipelines across tools such as Jama, Jira, Git, and automated test frameworks.
- Partner with Safety Firmware Engineers to define requirements for functional safety features, diagnostic logic, and low-level communication protocol interfaces.
- Collaborate with Firmware Test Engineers to translate safety goals and system requirements into HIL/SIL test plans, fault-injection coverage, and CI/CD automated test suites.
- Guide cross-functional teams through HARA, FMEA, and Fault Tree Analysis to identify timing, communication, and fault-handling edge cases.
- Compile requirements, analysis, and verification evidence to support comprehensive safety cases for autonomous robotic systems.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
