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Europe, United Kingdom, Reading

•

Posted 44 days ago

Senior Embedded Software & Firmware Engineer

🏢 Oxford Quantum Circuits

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Role Type

🛠️ Engineer / Developer

Role Focus

🏗️ Build Systems

Seniority

🌿 Experienced

🌳 Senior / Lead

Employer Type

🏢 Industry

This role is for a Senior Embedded Software & Firmware Engineer responsible for leading the design, development, and evolution of low-level software that controls OQC's quantum computing systems. The engineer will focus on bridging complex hardware with higher-level software to ensure high performance and reliability at scale. Key duties include owning critical embedded software projects, debugging complex hardware/software issues, and influencing architectural direction. The position also requires mentoring junior engineers and contributing to wider technical strategy.

Key Responsibilities

Take ownership of embedded software and firmware development projects and deliver solutions across hardware/software boundaries, particularly for quantum control systems.

Collaborate closely with FPGA developers to create and test firmware for Hard Processor Systems, integrating software with quantum control hardware.

Lead the full development lifecycle for company-level technical challenges, including gathering requirements, designing solutions, and deploying the system.

Lead the debugging of complex software and hardware issues in both development and production environments using rigorous testing methodologies.

Support, mentor, and review the work of less experienced engineers to raise the technical bar and foster best practice across the group.

Required Skills

Deep experience in embedded software and firmware development.

Strong expertise in Python.

Strong expertise in system-level languages (C/C++ or Rust).

Excellent understanding of computer science fundamentals (including operating systems, concurrency, and memory management).

Excellent grasp of hardware systems (including microcontrollers, Systems-on-Chip, and performance tuning).

Proven track record of delivering production-grade software at the register and hardware abstraction layer in complex environments.

Nice-to-have Skills

Experience leading multiple embedded software projects where hardware was a crucial part of the system through their full lifecycle.

Comfortable owning and evolving large, long-lived codebases.

Technology Tags

Classical programming

Strong expertise in classical programming languages like Python, C/C++ or Rust is listed as a core requirement for the role.

Rust

The candidate must have strong expertise in system-level languages such as Rust for embedded software development.

Control software

The core responsibility is designing, developing, and evolving the low-level embedded software and firmware that underpins the operation of quantum control systems.

FPGA controllers

The job requires collaborating with FPGA developers to integrate firmware with Hard Processor Systems for quantum control hardware.

Pulse-Level Control

The role involves developing the low-level firmware and embedded software necessary to execute precise pulse sequences in quantum control systems.

Radio Frequency System on Chip

The required skills section explicitly mentions deep understanding of hardware systems including Systems-on-Chip (SoC).

Noise & benchmarking

The role involves debugging complex software/hardware issues and improving reliability and performance in development and production environments.

Source Job Description

At OQC, our embedded software and firmware underpins the operation of our quantum computing systems — bridging complex hardware with higher-level software to deliver reliable, high-performance quantum devices. We’re now looking for a Senior Embedded Software & Firmware Engineer to take a leading role in designing, developing, and evolving the low-level software that enables our quantum computers to operate at scale.

You’re an experienced embedded engineer who thrives close to the hardware and enjoys solving hard performance, reliability, and integration problems. You bring technical and architectural insight, and a passion for mentoring others. You’re comfortable owning critical systems, influencing technical direction, and working across teams to ensure our embedded software meets both current and future needs.

As a Senior Embedded Software & Firmware Engineer, reporting to Alessandro Gherardi (Head of Control Systems), your responsibilities will include:

Take ownership of embedded software and firmware development projects, agreeing priorities and delivering solutions across hardware/software boundaries, particularly for quantum control systems.
Work closely with FPGA developers to create and test firmware for Hard Processor Systems (HPS), integrating software with quantum control hardware.
Own company-level technical challenges by gathering requirements, designing solutions, and leading the development lifecycle—from concept to deployment.
Take the lead in debugging complex software/hardware issues in both development and production environments, using rigorous testing methodologies and tools.
Ensure robust integration of firmware with other control hardware subsystems and contribute to wider system design and performance goals.
Support, mentor, and review the work of less experienced engineers; create and manage work packages to help develop junior team members.
Participate in industry conferences, consortia, and other networking opportunities to share expertise and represent the company as a technical leader.
Contribute to process development and continuous improvement initiatives, especially in embedded systems development, quality assurance, and documentation.
Maintain high standards of code quality, ensure security compliance, and support clear, up-to-date documentation practices.
Work with internal stakeholders and external partners to ensure solutions meet evolving needs, driving effective collaboration and communication across functions.

You’ll bring deep experience in embedded software and firmware development, with strong expertise in Python and system-level languages such as C/C++ or Rust. You’ll have an excellent grasp of computer science fundamentals and hardware systems — including operating systems, concurrency, memory management, microcontrollers, Systems-on-Chip and performance tuning — and a proven track record of delivering production-grade software in complex or industrial environments at the register and hardware abstraction layer of low level devices.

We’re particularly interested in engineers who have led multiple embedded software projects where hardware was a crucial part of the system through their full lifecycle and are comfortable owning and evolving large, long-lived codebases. You’ll enjoy tackling low-level performance and reliability challenges and take pride in solving complex problems close to the hardware. As a senior member of the team, you’ll naturally mentor others, helping to raise the technical bar and foster best practice across the group, while confidently influencing architectural decisions and contributing to the wider technical strategy.

And of course, you’ll bring curiosity, adaptability, and a relentless drive for quality — essential traits when building software at the frontier of quantum technology.

If you think you’ve got what it takes to lead the development of embedded software that powers OQC’s quantum computers — and to help shape the future of hardware-software integration in quantum systems — we’d love to hear from you.