Embedded System Engineer

About ArcadeXR

Arcade Online is a live platform where players remotely control real arcade machines and win real prizes, alongside a growing catalogue of original digital games designed exclusively for the platform.

Every physical game on the platform has been through a development process that connects a real arcade cabinet to our online infrastructure - adapting it for remote play, 24-hour operation, and the best possible player experience over camera. Sometimes that process is straightforward. Other times it requires significant electrical engineering, custom hardware interfaces, and firmware development from the ground up.

We're growing our catalogue fast. This role exists to help us do that without compromising on quality, reliability, or player experience.

The Role
We're looking for an Embedded Systems Engineer to own the electrical and firmware side of bringing arcade games to the Arcade Online platform - both games we purchase and onboard, and original titles we design and build ourselves.

The bulk of the role is onboarding: taking real arcade cabinets and getting them connected to our online infrastructure. That process can involve modifying or replacing harnessing, hijacking I/O, modifying or replacing electrical systems, writing firmware to handle custom game behaviour to enhance the online gameplay UX, improving error handling to allow better remote support, or diagnosing why something that worked yesterday doesn't work today. It's hands-on, varied, and you'll rarely face the same problem twice.

Alongside that, you'll contribute to the electrical and firmware development of our own original electromechanical games - from early prototyping and feasibility through to production-ready systems. This side of the work is less operational and more exploratory: building things that don't exist yet, iterating quickly, and figuring out what works.

You'll report to the Hardware Development Manager and form an important part of our tight, collaborative technical team.

What You'll Do

• Design and develop embedded firmware to a high standard - clean, stable, maintainable, and performant
• Own and evolve the low-level I/O framework that underpins our game systems
• Harness, hijack, and integrate the electrical and I/O systems of purchased arcade cabinets for remote play
• Optimise webRTC camera feed settings to ensure the best possible UX for remote gameplay
• Modify, repair, and improve electrical systems to support 24-hour operation
• Work with the electrical engineer to design and integrate custom hardware interfaces
• Build and maintain tools for thorough hardware testing and validation
• Diagnose and resolve issues across current and legacy systems
• Rapidly prototype firmware and electrical systems for new game concepts, evaluating feasibility and fun alongside the development team
• Advise on scope, complexity, and resource requirements for new game ideas and features

What We're Looking For

• Strong embedded firmware design and implementation skills in C/C++
• Ability to write portable, well-structured code that others can read and build on
• Experience with embedded development tools - IDEs, compilers, JTAG, ISP, oscilloscope, logic analyser
• Solid understanding of MCU architectures and peripherals
• Hands-on experience with communication protocols - I2C, SPI, USB, RS232/RS485
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting instincts - able to diagnose hardware and firmware issues methodically
• Comfortable working across both production-grade systems and rapid, exploratory prototypes
• Clear communicator in English, written and verbal
• A genuine interest in games - you'll be working closely with a games development team and contributing to decisions about what makes something fun and feasible

Nice to have

• Experience with electromechanical systems, amusement hardware, or similar physical product development
• Experience in a small team or startup environment where scope and priorities shift quickly

What Success Looks Like

After your first 12 months, you'll have:

• Significantly contributed to reducing onboarding timelines by owning the electrical and firmware workstream end to end
• Built and maintained a robust, well-documented I/O framework used across multiple titles
• Diagnosed and resolved legacy issues across the existing game catalogue
• Prototyped and contributed to at least one original ArcadeXR game from the electrical and firmware side
• Become the go-to for all things embedded across the team

Why Join Us
This is not a typical embedded engineering role. You won't be working on consumer electronics or industrial automation - you'll be working on real arcade machines, figuring out how to connect them to the internet and make them playable by someone on the other side of the world. Some of that work is precision engineering. Some of it is creative problem-solving. A lot of it is both.

It's a small team, a genuinely novel product, and a role where your work is immediately visible in what players experience on the platform.