Embedded Firmware Engineer

2x Senior & Principal Embedded Systems Engineers | Bristol | £45,000–£70,000 approx. — happy to pay more for the right talent
We are a growing engineering team hiring for two embedded systems engineering positions. Both roles sit within the same team, working on the same next-generation sensing products, but they differ in seniority, scope and required experience:
Senior Systems Engineer: up to £55,000 approx. Principal Embedded Systems Engineer: up to £70,000 approx.
The overview below sets out what both roles have in common, followed by a summary of how they differ and the specific requirements for each.

Role Overview
As a Senior or Principal Embedded Systems Engineer you will play a key role in the development of our next generation of permanently installed products. Working within a multidisciplinary engineering team, you will contribute across the full product lifecycle, from concept and prototype through to production, customer deployment and ongoing product improvement.
This is a hands-on engineering role combining embedded firmware, electronics development and product integration. You will work closely with firmware, hardware, software, mechanical and manufacturing engineers to design reliable industrial products deployed in demanding environments across the energy, infrastructure and industrial sectors.
The Senior role suits an engineer with several years of commercial experience who enjoys solving practical engineering problems and is comfortable working across hardware and software boundaries. The Principal role suits a more experienced engineer ready to take on greater ownership of product design and engineering decisions, and to develop into a senior technical contributor for the team.
Previous experience of ATEX or IECEx is not essential for either role. We will provide training and mentoring for candidates with the right technical aptitude and attitude.
Purpose of the Role
The successful candidates will help deliver high-quality embedded products by contributing across embedded firmware development, electronics design and debugging, prototype development, product verification and validation, manufacturing support, product integration, and continuous product improvement. The Senior role is intended to develop into a position of increasing technical ownership. The Principal role already carries increasing ownership of product design and engineering decisions from the outset.

Key Responsibilities
Both roles share the same core responsibilities across the product lifecycle; the Principal role carries greater autonomy and technical decision-making within each area.
Embedded Firmware Development:
Develop embedded firmware in C/C++ for low-power microcontroller platforms; design robust state machines and embedded control software; debug firmware using JTAG/SWD and modern embedded debugging tools; develop drivers for sensors, memory devices and communication peripherals; optimise firmware for reliability, battery life and performance; and support firmware release, version control and configuration management.
Electronics Design & Development:
Assist in the design of analogue and digital electronic circuits; participate in schematic capture and PCB design reviews; select appropriate electronic components balancing performance, cost and availability; support prototype bring-up and board-level debugging; and use oscilloscopes, logic analysers and electronic test equipment to diagnose issues.
Hardware/Firmware Integration:
Integrate embedded firmware with electronic hardware; investigate hardware/software interactions; support integration of sensors, communications and power management; and resolve system-level technical issues.
Product Development:
Contribute throughout the complete product lifecycle from concept through manufacture; build and evaluate engineering prototypes; participate in design reviews; support design verification and validation activities; and contribute to engineering risk assessments.
Testing & Validation:
Develop functional and regression tests; execute verification plans; analyse failures using structured root-cause analysis; support environmental, reliability and endurance…