Staff Firmware Engineer, Battery Systems

QuantumScape Corporation•San Jose, CA

25d•$136,700 - $208,500•Onsite

About The Position

QuantumScape is developing solid-state lithium-metal batteries intended to provide greater energy density, faster charging, and enhanced safety. The Staff Firmware Engineer, Battery Systems is responsible for key battery-system functions, including monitoring, protection, and communications. The role develops state-of-charge estimation algorithms, defines battery states and transitions, implements communication protocols, and ensures reliable protection functions. Firmware quality and validation are central to the battery pack’s operating performance and safety, including timing control, peripheral configuration, power consumption, and SOC estimation. This onsite role works with battery-pack firmware platforms, hardware teams, ODM partners, and the company’s lab. The position is required to work onsite five days per week. The stated expected salary range is $136,700 to $208,500; final salary depends on experience, educational background, and internal equity. Compensation also includes an annual bonus and RSU/equity package. QuantumScape offers a benefits plan that includes employee-paid health care and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP), among other benefits.

Requirements

A relevant Bachelor’s degree and 9+ years of experience, a relevant Master’s degree and 8+ years of experience, or a relevant Ph.D. and 5+ years of experience.
5+ years writing BMS firmware for lithium-ion battery packs.
Proficiency with TI C2000, STM32, or similar microcontroller platforms.
In-depth understanding of timing and latency control in RTOS and interrupts.
Experience designing and fine-tuning SOC/SOH estimation algorithms.
Familiarity with configuring hardware peripherals such as ADC, PWM, Comparator, and UART, and writing drivers.
Ability to create a firmware platform from scratch.
Comfort working with medium- to high-power battery packs (>20 kW).
Good understanding of battery protection features and safety requirements such as UL2054, UL1973, UL 9540A, and IEC 62133.
Experience implementing battery/power-management communication protocols such as SMBus, PMBus, and ModBus.
Track record of taking at least two battery products through prototype bring-up, validation, and regulatory approval.
Fluency in C for bare-metal and RTOS environments; comfort with fixed-point math for real-time control.
Ability to work onsite five days per week.

Nice To Haves

Experience in digital control of power converters, such as PFC, DC/DC, and inverters.
Good understanding of lithium-ion battery chemistry and characteristics.
Familiarity with OpenBMC integration and Redfish/IPMI protocols.
Experience with code reviews and audits for regulatory compliance.
Experience with configurable modular multi-pack systems.
Exposure to OCP power shelf communication and management standards.
Experience in a customer-facing application engineering role.

Responsibilities

Create a firmware platform for the battery pack using bare metal or an RTOS and drivers.
Define microcontroller pinouts to ensure proper allocation of peripherals.
Design protection functions with redundancy and consistent timing.
Implement power sequencing and pre-charge control for inrush current limiting.
Design SOC/SOH estimation algorithms for solid-state batteries.
Define states and transitions to cover all operating modes.
Ensure minimum operating- and sleep-mode power consumption.
Create firmware read/write protection and upgrade schemes.
Collaborate with ODM partners to create and validate firmware protocols.
Bring up hardware platforms built from scratch, identify issues, and work with hardware engineers to resolve them.
Provide firmware validation and regression test plans to the lab.