Staff Embedded Firmware Engineer, AQNav

About the Role

As a Staff Embedded Firmware Engineer at AQNav, you will be at the forefront of designing and implementing embedded software solutions for our next-generation quantum sensing and navigation systems. In this role, you will collaborate closely with R&D teams to rapidly prototype, validate, and refine sophisticated sensor architectures, with a strong emphasis on embedded firmware and software-driven methodologies. You will be responsible for building robust, maintainable codebases that underpin our cutting-edge hardware platforms, ensuring reliable performance in diverse, often mission-critical environments.

What You’ll Do:

Hardware Bring-up & Integration

• Support hardware bring-up activities, including low-level board and SoC development, BIOS development, and interfacing with new hardware components.
• Collaborate with hardware and electrical teams to design and validate system-level functionality, ensuring firmware-hardware interoperability.
• Ensure designs account for resource constraints (memory, power, performance) while adhering to compliance and certification requirements.

Firmware Design & Development

• Architect and implement embedded firmware for new system features, focusing on performance, scalability, and robustness.
• Write, enhance, and debug real-time firmware, ensuring tight integration with underlying hardware.
• Lead firmware architecture design and code reviews, ensuring scalability, modularity, and maintainability.
• Collaborate closely with hardware, systems, and product teams to define requirements and integration strategies.
• Participate in API development, firmware reviews, and documentation to promote best practices in coding and architectural decisions.

Safety-Critical Firmware Development

• Familiarity with key aviation, military, and other U.S. government/industry safety-critical development standards, including DO-178C, DO-254, MIL-STD-2167A, MIL-STD-882, as well as applicable standards from the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Energy (DOE), and NASA.
• Hands-on development using RTOS platforms such as SafeRTOS, VxWorks, PikeOS, or similar safety-certified real-time operating systems.

About You

• Holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience in embedded firmware development, with a track record of bringing hardware prototypes to production-ready systems.
• Strong skills with low-level debugging, board bring-up, BIOS support, and embedded microprocessor toolchains.
• Ability to architect and document embedded systems, including firmware design specifications, hardware interfaces (SPI, I2C, UART, etc.), and performance trade-offs.
• Experience with test automation, CI/CD pipelines, and collaborative development tools.

Job Requirements

• U.S. Citizenship is required due to USG contract requirements.
• Must be able to obtain and hold a U.S. Secret security clearance.
• You’re willing and able to work from our Palo Alto location at least 1 day per week.
• Proficient in high- and low-level programming (e.g. Python, Julia, C, C++, Rust, MatLab, etc.).
• Proficient in software development methodologies and best practices (e.g., Agile practices, CI/CD, test-driven development.)
• Hands-on experience with real-time systems, embedded microprocessor tools, and advanced debugging techniques.

Nice to Haves: 

• Background in aerospace, automotive or other safety-critical industries.
• Familiarity with Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) concepts and sensor fusion algorithms.
• Experience with FPGA development and High-Level Synthesis (HLS) for hardware acceleration, safety-critical control systems, and real-time signal processing.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is expected to be $183k-256k per year. Our salary ranges are determined by role and level. Within the range, individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. This role may be eligible for annual discretionary bonuses and equity.