AI Product Engineer, FW​/SW

Psi Quantum is building fault-tolerant quantum computers based on silicon photonics technology. This is a senior individual contributor role at the intersection of silicon photonics, embedded systems, electronics, controls, and system software. The engineer will translate photonic device and system requirements into robust control algorithms, firmware, APIs, diagnostics, and system-level software for complex embedded hardware systems.

• Architect, develop, and maintain embedded firmware for control and management of silicon photonics products
• Develop firmware that interfaces with photonic devices, ASICs/FPGAs, DACs, ADCs, temperature sensors, power-management devices, and other board-level electronics
• Implement closed-loop control algorithms for optical operating points, temperature, power, bias, alignment, switching state, and other device-specific control variables
• Develop real-time and event-driven firmware for complex embedded systems; define and implement state machines governing system startup, operation, fault handling, recovery, and shutdown
• Support remote firmware/software update mechanisms, configuration management, versioning, and system recovery; develop diagnostic capabilities for manufacturing and field teams

• BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Controls Engineering, Physics, or related technical discipline
• Significant professional experience developing firmware and software for complex embedded systems
• Strong programming experience in C/C++ for embedded systems
• Strong understanding of embedded processors, microcontrollers, memory architectures, interrupts, timing, concurrency, and hardware interfaces
• Demonstrated experience developing software that directly controls physical hardware and strong system-level debugging skills across hardware and software boundaries

• Experience with RTOS and/or embedded Linux environments
• Experience with Python or similar languages for automation, system test, data analysis, and hardware control
• Experience with embedded communication protocols such as SPI, I²C, UART, GPIO, Ethernet, or similar interfaces
• Experience developing software for hardware bring-up, characterization, and automated test

Base pay ranges by geographic zone:
Zone 1 (Bay Area, NYC) $208,300–$244,700;
Zone 2 (Los Angeles, Washington DC) $187,400–$220,200;
Zone 3 (Austin, Chicago, Sacramento) $166,000–$195,800;
Zone 4 (Nashville, Phoenix, remote locations) $145,800–$171,300 USD. Full-time roles include equity, competitive health coverage, 401(k) with company match, wellness benefits, family support programs, life and disability insurance, paid leave, discretionary time off, and company shutdown.