Principal Firmware Engineer

Boston Engineering is where innovative ideas become real-world technologies. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, we've spent more than 30 years partnering with commercial and government clients to solve complex engineering challenges and bring breakthrough products to market. From advanced robotics and autonomous systems to medical devices, digital solutions, defense technologies, and industrial automation, our teams work on meaningful projects that push the boundaries of what's possible

This role is restricted to US persons (i.e., US citizens, permanent residents, and other protected individuals under the Immigration and Naturalization Act, 8 USC 1324b(a)(3)) due to access to export-controlled technology. Boston Engineering will require proof of status prior to employment.

See the Kind of Work You'll Be Part Of

See how Boston Engineering helps clients turn complex ideas into real-world products and technologies.

This is a Principal Firmware Engineer role. While the title includes "software," the work is primarily embedded and firmware-focused: RTOS-based systems, hardware bring-up, driver development, board-level debugging, and close collaboration with electrical and mechanical teams.

This is not a role where you'll simply provide technical direction from the sidelines. You'll be designing, coding, debugging, integrating, and solving difficult problems alongside the engineering team.

The Principal Firmware Engineer owns embedded software at both the tactical and strategic levels, ensuring systems are architected correctly, risks are identified early, and the broader team is unblocked when challenges arise. This role sets technical direction, improves and documents software processes, establishes best practices, and mentor's engineers.

How You'll Spend Your Time

40% — Hands-on firmware development and debugging

30% — Systems Design

15% — Integration, manufacturing and production support

15% — Mentoring, code/design reviews, and process improvement

See the Technology in Action

Take a look at how Boston Engineering applies engineering expertise to the development of BIO Swimmer, an autonomous underwater robotic fish.

Lead the design, development, and optimization of embedded and firmware systems

Write and review RTOS-based firmware using FreeRTOS, ROS2, Zephyr, or similar

Architect firmware integrated with custom hardware, sensors, and control systems

Develop firmware, device drivers, and communication stacks

Review schematics and PCB layouts to identify firmware impacts and integration risks

Debug complex software, firmware, and hardware issues using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, and other bench tools

Build and maintain benchtop development setups ("roadkills") for early firmware development

Lead technical design reviews, architecture discussions, and roadmap planning

Act as the technical escalation point when embedded or system-level issues block progress

Mentor engineers on firmware architecture, debugging, and best practices

Break down ambiguous problems into executable engineering plans

Support development workflows, integration, manufacturing, and transition to production

Communicate technical concepts, tradeoffs, risks, and status to engineering and non-engineering stakeholders

Requirements and Preferences

7+ years of embedded/firmware development experience, including 3+ years in a senior or technical lead role

BS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field; MS preferred

Strong C and C++ experience for embedded systems and Python for tooling/testing

Hands-on RTOS experience such as FreeRTOS, ROS2, Zephyr, or similar

Experience with STM
32, ARM-based MCUs/SoCs, x86, PIC
32, or similar

Experience with I2C, SPI, UART,…