Electrical Engineer, Firmware Development

Electrical Engineer, Firmware Development

Job Category: T3

Requisition Number: ELECT
002860

Employment Type: Full-Time, Hybrid

Location: 8615 Usher Rd, Olmsted Township, OH 44138, USA

Vitamix is seeking an Electrical Engineer, Firmware Development who will lead the design, development, and validation of embedded firmware and real‑time control systems for motor‑driven consumer products. Collaborating with cross‑functional engineering teams, this role drives the firmware lifecycle from architecture through DVP validation, ensuring compliance with performance, safety, and regulatory standards. Additionally, this position establishes firmware quality standards, supports existing product lines, and explores next‑generation embedded technologies to fuel the New Product Development (NPD) pipeline.

• Serve as the organization‑wide firmware expert, guiding Engineering, Production, and Quality teams on real‑time embedded systems, motor control algorithms, and safety‑critical software.
• Design and implement embedded MCU architecture, including RTOS task structures, real‑time scheduling, low‑level drivers, HAL integration, and peripheral management (GPIO, ADC, PWM, I2C/SPI).
• Develop and own advanced motor control firmware (PID/FOC, soft‑start, stall detection) and safety‑critical state machines compliant with functional safety standards like IEC 60730‑1.
• Manage the complete firmware lifecycle—from translating system requirements into specifications to guiding firmware through formal STEP stage‑gate reviews, FMEAs, and regulatory approvals (UL/IEC).
• Establish firmware coding standards, static analysis, and code review processes; drive the adoption of automated testing and CI/CD workflows to boost release velocity and product quality.
• Lead comprehensive firmware testing strategies, including unit, module, integration, and Hardware‑in‑the‑Loop (HIL) testing to support DVP/PVP execution.
• Implement communication and wireless connectivity protocols (UART, SPI, BLE, Wi‑Fi, OTA) alongside secure protocol stack integration for connected product lines.
• Design robust diagnostic frameworks (error coding, crash logging) and lead root‑cause analysis for field failures or performance anomalies.
• Support legacy product lines via structured change control, while evaluating future MCU platform selections based on performance, cost, and portability goals.

• Experience: 4–7 years related experience in embedded firmware systems development
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering required;
  Master’s degree in Engineering or related field is a plus
• Technical
  
  Skills:
  
  
  • Core Embedded & Architecture
    • Deep expertise in embedded C for MCU‑based systems; strong grasp of MCU architecture (memory, clocks, interrupts, DMA)
    • Proven experience designing RTOS‑based real‑time systems (FreeRTOS, Thread
      
      X), task structures, and concurrency management
    • Proficiency writing and reviewing low‑level peripheral drivers (GPIO, ADC, PWM, Timers, UART, SPI, I2C) and vendor HAL integration
  • Advanced Control & Functional Safety
    • Extensive experience with motor control (PID/FOC, torque control, soft‑start, stall detection, thermal model tuning)
    • Experience implementing safety‑critical firmware (IEC 60730‑1 Annex H, watchdogs, fail‑safe state machines) and leading firmware FMEAs
    • Knowledge of low‑power optimization (sleep modes, clock scaling) and EMC‑safe firmware design
  • Connectivity & Hardware Integration
    • Experience with communication stacks (BLE, Wi‑Fi, NFC, Modbus, OTA, updates) and sensor integration (NTC thermistors, position sensors)
    • Hands‑on board bring‑up, schematic reading, basic soldering, and expert use of lab tools (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, JTAG/SWD)
  • Tool, Quality and Lifecycle
    • Proficient with IDEs (STM
      32
      
      CubeIDE, MPLAB, Keil), version control (Git), and scripting (Python, Bash)
    • Experience with static analysis (MISRA C, PC‑lint), automated test frameworks (HIL) and CI/CD pipelines for firmware
    • Familiarity with embedded SDLC, requirements traceability, MCU platform sourcing strategy, and ERP systems (Oracle/SAP)

• Problem Solving – Skilled at quickly diagnosing issues, identifying root causes, and…