{"schemaVersion":"jobsearcher.job.v1","id":"9bf071933d10107d35f42911","url":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/9bf071933d10107d35f42911","canonicalUrl":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/9bf071933d10107d35f42911","title":"Firmware Engineer (Embedded Systems)","description":"FIRST ORDER EFFECTS\nFirmware Engineer (Embedded Systems)\nInfrastructure for the Autonomous Era · First in. First up.\nOn-site · Austin, TX\n-\nMESH has to think for itself. You are our first embedded hire, and you own the firmware and software that turn a box of parts into a coordinated power plant: real-time control on the MCUs and orchestration on embedded Linux. You set the foundation the whole software effort is built on, and you get to be the one who makes the box come alive on the bench and in the field.\nWho We Are\nFirst Order Effects (FOE) is building America's Infrastructure Prime for the robotic era. Autonomous ships, drones, and robots are rewriting how the world moves, fights, and builds - but none of them work without infrastructure to power them, connect them, and launch and recover them. That's what we build.\n\nWe've Built Cutting Edge Systems at Legendary Companies\nOur team comes from SpaceX, Anduril, Saronic, Lockheed Skunk Works, Forterra, and Fuse Energy. Before founding FOE, we built satellite ground stations that closed a national comms gap in days, deployed multi-megawatt power systems at commercial speed, and shipped autonomous surface vessels into Navy fleet production. We've built infrastructure at lightspeed before - now we're applying that playbook to an entire company.\n\nThe Role\nArchitect and write the firmware that runs MESH: generator start and stop sequencing, real-time power and current monitoring, contactor control, and safety interlocks.\nOwn the RTOS MCU layer, including deterministic timing, drivers, and comms, and the embedded Linux orchestration on the command PCBA.\nDefine the interfaces between firmware, the control PCBAs, the inverter, and the battery.\nBuild the telemetry, logging, and health monitoring that let us trust the system in the field.\nSet the foundation: toolchain, build system, hardware-in-the-loop, and the patterns the next embedded hires inherit.\n\nWhat You'll Do\nShip firmware on real hardware where reliability is non-negotiable, the way it works in defense, aerospace, robotics, automotive, or energy.\nWrite C and C++ down at the hardware level: SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, Ethernet, interrupts, and deterministic timing.\nWork across RTOS or bare metal and embedded Linux, including Yocto or Buildroot, drivers, and userspace.\nDebug across the hardware and software line with a scope, logic analyzer, and JTAG.\n\nWhat We're Looking For\n\nExperience with power systems, battery management, inverters, or generator controls.\nA background in safety-critical firmware or functional safety.\nCompensation\n$100,000–$250,000 base + founding-team equity sized for the role + benefits. If you're an outlier, we'll pay like it.\n\nITAR requirement\nTo conform to U.S. Government export regulations (ITAR/EAR), applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3). Candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance; active clearance not required.\nFOE is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with FOE is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.\n\nSovereignty is built, not declared — come build it with us.\nCompensation Range: $100K - $250K","company":"First Order Effects","rawCompany":"first order effects","city":"Austin","state":"TX","isRemote":false,"isActive":false,"createdAt":"2026-08-05T13:48:48.047Z","occupations":[{"code":"15-1252.00","title":"Software Developers","slug":"software-developers"},{"code":"15-1299.08","title":"Computer Systems Engineers/Architects","slug":"computer-systems-engineers-architects"},{"code":"15-1299.07","title":"Blockchain Engineers","slug":"blockchain-engineers"}],"industries":[{"code":"513210","title":"Software Publishers","slug":"software-publishers"},{"code":"541512","title":"Computer Systems Design Services","slug":"computer-systems-design-services"},{"code":"541511","title":"Custom Computer Programming Services","slug":"custom-computer-programming-services"}],"jobPosting":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"JobPosting","title":"Firmware Engineer (Embedded Systems)","description":"FIRST ORDER EFFECTS\nFirmware Engineer (Embedded Systems)\nInfrastructure for the Autonomous Era · First in. First up.\nOn-site · Austin, TX\n-\nMESH has to think for itself. You are our first embedded hire, and you own the firmware and software that turn a box of parts into a coordinated power plant: real-time control on the MCUs and orchestration on embedded Linux. You set the foundation the whole software effort is built on, and you get to be the one who makes the box come alive on the bench and in the field.\nWho We Are\nFirst Order Effects (FOE) is building America's Infrastructure Prime for the robotic era. Autonomous ships, drones, and robots are rewriting how the world moves, fights, and builds - but none of them work without infrastructure to power them, connect them, and launch and recover them. That's what we build.\n\nWe've Built Cutting Edge Systems at Legendary Companies\nOur team comes from SpaceX, Anduril, Saronic, Lockheed Skunk Works, Forterra, and Fuse Energy. Before founding FOE, we built satellite ground stations that closed a national comms gap in days, deployed multi-megawatt power systems at commercial speed, and shipped autonomous surface vessels into Navy fleet production. We've built infrastructure at lightspeed before - now we're applying that playbook to an entire company.\n\nThe Role\nArchitect and write the firmware that runs MESH: generator start and stop sequencing, real-time power and current monitoring, contactor control, and safety interlocks.\nOwn the RTOS MCU layer, including deterministic timing, drivers, and comms, and the embedded Linux orchestration on the command PCBA.\nDefine the interfaces between firmware, the control PCBAs, the inverter, and the battery.\nBuild the telemetry, logging, and health monitoring that let us trust the system in the field.\nSet the foundation: toolchain, build system, hardware-in-the-loop, and the patterns the next embedded hires inherit.\n\nWhat You'll Do\nShip firmware on real hardware where reliability is non-negotiable, the way it works in defense, aerospace, robotics, automotive, or energy.\nWrite C and C++ down at the hardware level: SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, Ethernet, interrupts, and deterministic timing.\nWork across RTOS or bare metal and embedded Linux, including Yocto or Buildroot, drivers, and userspace.\nDebug across the hardware and software line with a scope, logic analyzer, and JTAG.\n\nWhat We're Looking For\n\nExperience with power systems, battery management, inverters, or generator controls.\nA background in safety-critical firmware or functional safety.\nCompensation\n$100,000–$250,000 base + founding-team equity sized for the role + benefits. If you're an outlier, we'll pay like it.\n\nITAR requirement\nTo conform to U.S. Government export regulations (ITAR/EAR), applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3). Candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance; active clearance not required.\nFOE is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with FOE is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.\n\nSovereignty is built, not declared — come build it with us.\nCompensation Range: $100K - $250K","datePosted":"2026-08-05T13:48:48.047Z","dateModified":"2026-08-05T13:48:48.047Z","hiringOrganization":{"@type":"Organization","name":"First Order Effects","sameAs":"https://jobsearcher.com"},"jobLocation":{"@type":"Place","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","addressLocality":"Austin","addressRegion":"TX","addressCountry":"US"}},"identifier":{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"JobSearcher","value":"9bf071933d10107d35f42911"},"url":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/9bf071933d10107d35f42911"}}