Software and Firmware Engineer AI Research

Apply deep hands‑on engineering judgment to advanced AI research involving embedded systems and real-world hardware. This remote opportunity focuses on evaluating and improving work across embedded firmware, FPGA and RTL, flight software, hardware test automation, and hardware‑connected debugging workflows.

• Apply software, firmware, and digital hardware expertise to complex engineering tasks involving physical systems.
• Review embedded firmware, FPGA and RTL designs, flight software, test automation frameworks, hardware interfaces, and system‑level engineering workflows.
• Analyze architecture and implementation trade‑offs involving real‑time performance, timing, memory, compute resources, interfaces, reliability, fault handling, concurrency, and hardware and software integration.
• Assess the correctness, robustness, and practical feasibility of solutions for embedded and hardware‑connected systems.
• Identify implementation errors, flawed assumptions, race conditions, timing issues, interface failures, resource constraints, and other system‑level failure modes.
• Develop or review rigorous engineering problems, reference implementations, test cases, evaluation criteria, and technical documentation.
• Provide technical feedback informed by development, integration, hardware bring‑up, debugging, verification, validation, test automation, deployment, and production hardware constraints.

At least 5 years of professional software, firmware, FPGA, or embedded systems engineering experience, including at least 3 recent years of actively hands‑on work developing, integrating, testing, bringing up, or troubleshooting software or firmware on real hardware. Experience serving as the responsible engineer for production hardware‑connected software or firmware, with ownership spanning requirements, architecture, implementation, integration, hardware bring‑up, verification, validation, debugging, and deployment.

Deep expertise in at least one area: embedded firmware and real‑time systems; FPGA and RTL design and verification; flight software and safety or mission‑critical systems; or hardware test automation and hardware‑in‑the‑loop infrastructure. Practical command of relevant technologies such as C/C++, Python, RTOS or bare‑metal development, device drivers, bootloaders, embedded Linux, SPI, I²C, UART, CAN, Ethernet, Verilog, System Verilog, VHDL, FPGA tool chains, telemetry, hardware interfaces, and automated test systems, as relevant to your specialty.

Extensive experience debugging software and hardware interactions using tools such as JTAG or SWD debuggers, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, simulators or emulators, HIL or SIL environments, automated test equipment, CI infrastructure, and structured root‑cause analysis. Experience in product development or hardware manufacturing environments, ideally in aerospace and defense, space, automotive or EV, semiconductors, consumer electronics, robotics or eVTOL, industrial or energy, or medical devices.

You should be able to explain architectural decisions, implementation trade‑offs, test results, and failure mechanisms clearly.

Experience with organizations that design, build, test, and manufacture physical hardware or embedded systems is strongly preferred. Relevant backgrounds include aerospace and defense, space, automotive and EV, semiconductors, consumer electronics and computing, drones and robotics, industrial and energy systems, and medical devices. Comparable hardware‑focused organizations are encouraged.

Remote, hourly engagement. Flexible engagement structures alongside experienced engineers and researchers.

$100 to $120 per hour.

Contribute to challenging work at the intersection of advanced hardware systems and AI research, helping improve AI reasoning about embedded development, digital design, hardware and software integration, real‑time systems, testing, and debugging.