Principal Controls Firmware Engineer

Location / employment: Houston, Texas / Full-time (proposed)

Proposed base salary: $145,000–$195,000 annually, depending on relevant experience and qualifications.

Jacobi Motors is developing variable flux memory motor technology. We are seeking an accomplished controls engineer who can personally develop algorithms, implement embedded firmware, and make motors, power electronics, and test systems perform reliably on real hardware.

You will work alongside our existing controls experts on core technology and assigned product programs, from control strategy through bench and dynamometer validation. We value deep controls expertise, sound engineering judgment, rapid problem-solving, and measured results. The role will expand into charging controls as our power electronics programs develop.

What you’ll do

• Develop, implement, and tune motor control algorithms, including field-oriented control, current and torque regulation, speed control, field weakening, and regenerative operation.
• Collaborate on variable flux memory motor control, including magnetization strategies, flux-state estimation, operating limits, and coordination with electromagnetic design.
• Implement deterministic C/C++ firmware on microcontrollers or DSPs; integrate synchronized ADC sampling, PWM, position feedback, communications, and inverter hardware.
• Develop and commission motor test-system controls, coordinating the motor under test, dynamometer/load drive, DC power equipment, instrumentation, and data acquisition.
• Define focused validation tests, characterize system dynamics, tune loops, and verify stability, transient response, efficiency, and operating limits against measured data.
• Diagnose hardware–firmware interactions, including sensing errors, timing, noise, inverter nonlinearities, and control instability; implement and verify corrective actions.
• Develop startup and shutdown sequences, limits, fault detection, safe states, and recovery logic in coordination with hardware protections and test-cell interlocks.
• Extend control and firmware capability into charging and bidirectional power conversion, including current/voltage regulation, converter sequencing, and system coordination.
• Share algorithm development and hardware debugging, lead technical reviews, mentor engineers, and maintain reusable, documented, version-controlled implementations.

What you’ll bring

• Extensive relevant experience, typically 10+ years, with substantial hands‑on responsibility for motor controls, embedded firmware, and power electronics.
• A record of personally taking motor‑drive algorithms from concept through embedded implementation, commissioning, tuning, and validated hardware performance.
• Deep practical knowledge of electric machines and field‑oriented control, including reference‑frame transforms, current loops, PWM, field weakening, and voltage/current constraints.
• Strong control‑theory fundamentals: system modeling, loop stability and bandwidth, sampling and computation delays, filtering, anti‑windup, and parameter identification.
• Advanced C/C++ skills for real‑time embedded systems (TI C2000m STM
  32 or similar automotive‑grade MCUs), with practical command of interrupts, timers, ADC/PWM peripherals, execution timing, and hardware debugging.
• Hands‑on experience with inverters, motor dynamo meters, programmable power equipment, and instrumentation; ability to interpret schematics and debug signals and power‑stage behavior.
• Experience controlling and automating test equipment using CAN/CAN FD, SPI, I2C and UART; proficiency in Python for testing and analysis.
• Ability to quickly understand an existing system, isolate the dominant problem, and deliver measured improvements while maintaining disciplined validation and protection.
• Ability to collaborate as a…