Principal Firmware Architect

What to ExpectHeron Power is a startup building cutting-edge power electronics for the 21st-century grid. We aim to debottleneck the growth of electricity generation and consumption with scalable, innovative, and cost-effective hardware solutions, accelerating the electrification of everything.Our first goal is to build better converters (inverters & rectifiers) to connect large-scale renewables, storage, and loads to the grid. Heron's leadership team is made up of seasoned veterans who have designed and shipped gigawatts of power conversion products.We believe no one person knows everything. We learn together, build together, and solve hard problems from first principles. You'll work in a fast-moving, deeply technical environment where ownership and impact are real.Job OverviewAs a Principal Embedded Software Engineer / Firmware Architect, you will own the technical vision and architecture for Heron's embedded firmware platformYou will define how our converters are operated and monitored at the device level — from microcontroller selection and RTOS architecture to resource management, safety infrastructure, and production firmware processes. This role blends deep hands-on engineering with system architecture and technical leadership.Why This Role Is DifferentThis role owns the device brain. You'll architect the firmware platform that every Heron product is built on — shaping performance, reliability, maintainability and scalability at the foundation — while partnering closely with controls and cloud engineers to deliver a complete solution.If you enjoy building robust embedded systems from the metal up and setting technical direction for an entire product line, you'll thrive here.How You Will ContributeArchitecture & Technical LeadershipDefine and own the long-term architecture for embedded firmware across Heron productsEstablish reusable platform software, hardware abstraction layers, and shared infrastructureSet coding standards, architectural ethos, and development practices, while leading design reviews and mentoring embedded engineersDrive system-level technical decisions across firmware and hardware boundariesReal-Time & Control FirmwareArchitect and implement RTOS-based firmware for high-performance power conversionDesign low-latency control infrastructure, fault management, telemetry, real-time scheduling, and key drivers and peripherals (PWM, ADC, communications, etc.)Evaluate and select microcontrollers/SoCs for new platformsBuild safety-critical and high-reliability firmware systemsDevice InfrastructureDesign bootloaders, secure firmware architecture, and update mechanismsImplement logging, diagnostics, tracing, and observability tools on-deviceDefine device-side communication interfaces and data modelsPartner with the connected systems team members to enable telemetry, OTA, and fleet managementSupport manufacturing test, provisioning, and production workflowsQuality & ToolingArchitect build system, CI/CD, and automated testing infrastructure for firmwareDefine unit, integration, and hardware-in-the-loop testing strategiesImprove developer tooling and validation pipelinesWhat You Will BringMust-Have8+ years of embedded firmware development with multiple shipped productsExpert-level embedded C/C++Deep experience with RTOS, bootloaders, and low-level hardware driversProven experience architecting large embedded systems (not just implementing features)Experience building firmware CI/CD and automated testing frameworksStrong hardware debugging skills (oscilloscope, logic analyzer, etc.)Demonstrated technical leadership and mentorshipNice-to-HaveReal-time control systems or power electronics experienceSafety-critical or high-reliability firmware (IEC 61508, UL1998, etc.)Secure boot and device security experienceExperience integrating embedded systems with cloud/IoT platformsFPGA or ASIC familiarityProduction manufacturing and field support experienceIf you are passionate about technology and enjoy working in a fast-paced environment, we would love to hear from you. Join us in accelerating the electrification of everything at Heron Power.Heron Power provides competitive compensation (salary and equity) and benefits. The salary for this role ranges from $170,000 to $260,000 per year.J-18808-Ljbffr