Firmware Engineer II

Embrace a career with purpose at Nice North America, a subsidiary of Nice S.p.A., an Italian multinational leader in Home and Building Automation. Guided by our vision of creating A World Without Barriers, we develop cutting-edge solutions for smart home control, security, door and gate automation, access control, and more to achieve our mission of Simplifying Everyday Movements.

Headquartered in Carlsbad, CA, with several R&D and manufacturing centers and offices throughout the region, Nice is committed to innovation that enhances everyday life. Our team thrives in an environment that fosters continuous learning and professional growth where you’ll collaborate with talented and dynamic individuals every day to create groundbreaking solutions. And, as a global leader, we offer award-winning sales and marketing programs, technical support, and CEU training to the industry’s top partners.

Our commitment extends beyond technology development; we also proudly support the Gary Sinise Foundation R.I.S.E. program, helping wounded veterans and their families through specially adapted smart homes. A philanthropic endeavor that truly embodies our corporate mission.

Summary: A Firmware Engineer II is responsible for the design, development, testing, and maintenance of embedded firmware for microcontroller-based electromechanical gate and door products. This is a highly hands-on, hardware-oriented role focused on low-level embedded systems (bare-metal and RTOS), not embedded Linux or application-layer development. The ideal candidate enjoys working with hardware, including board bring-up, debugging real circuits, and interacting directly with electrical designs.

You will contribute to products that are released into medium and high-volume manufacturing and be involved throughout the product lifecycle, including architecture discussions, board bring-up, debugging, validation, and field reliability improvements. This role emphasizes low-level firmware development, technical execution, collaboration, and ownership of firmware components rather than OS-based development or direct people management.

Salary is $120,000 to $140,000 annually, depending on experience.

Location: Kent, WA. (fully onsite)

Primary Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, and maintain embedded firmware for microcontroller-based systems used in vehicular gate operators.

• Develop production-quality firmware in C/C++ for real-time embedded systems, including bare metal and RTOS-based applications.

• Implement and debug low-level drivers and hardware interfaces directly on microcontrollers (no embedded Linux).

• Collaborate closely with electrical engineers during schematic review, board bring-up, debugging, and hardware/firmware integration.

• Debug hardware/firmware issues at the signal level (GPIO, SPI, I2C, UART, ADC, PWM, RS485, etc.)

• Participate in firmware architecture discussions and contribute to design decisions for new products and feature enhancements.

• Effectively use hardware debugging tools such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and debuggers to diagnose and resolve issues.

• Support manufacturing introduction, validation testing, and ongoing product reliability improvements.

• Document firmware design, behavior, and interfaces through code commits, specifications, and technical documentation.

• Work effectively within Git-based version control workflows, including code reviews and collaborative development.

• Maintain awareness of applicable safety and regulatory requirements (e.g., UL 325) and how they impact firmware design.

• Provide technical support and collaboration with other engineering disciplines and departments as needed.
• Stay current with embedded systems best practices and contribute to continuous improvement of development processes.

Note: This role does not involve embedded Linux, application-layer development, or high-level OS-based driver development

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent experience.

• 3–7 years of experience developing firmware on microcontrollers (bare-metal or RTOS) for production hardware.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Software: High proficiency in C for embedded microcontrollers. Experience using higher-level languages (e.g. Python) for testing, scripting, or tooling is a plus.

• Strong understanding of microcontroller peripherals (timers, interrupts, ADC, PWM, communication interfaces)

• Experience with common microcontroller families and IDEs (e.g., ST, Microchip, TI, NXP).

• Experience with RTOS-based firmware architectures.

• Ability to read and understand schematics and basic circuit design.

• Hands-on experience with hardware debugging tools such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and JTAG/SWD debuggers.

• Experience using Git or similar version control systems in a team environment.

• Advantageous to have experience in: BLDC Motor control, Battery and Solar management, standard wired and wireless embedded communication protocols, Embedded Web Servers, low power/standby modes and Exposure to safety-critical or regulated products.

• Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail.

• Ability to communicate effectively with electrical, mechanical, and test engineers.

• Comfortable working in a small, collaborative engineering team.

Candidates with primarily embedded Linux, application-layer, or high-level software backgrounds (e.g., Yocto, kernel drivers, UI/backend systems) are not a fit for this role.

Physical Requirements:

Essential functions of this job require the following minimal physical demands. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable the individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Sufficient clarity of speech and hearing or other communication capabilities, with or without reasonable accommodation, which permits the employee to communicate effectively on the telephone and in person.

• Sufficient vision or other powers of observation, with or without reasonable accommodation, which permits the employee to review documents and file them in a prescribed order and organize documents and materials.

• Sufficient manual dexterity with or without reasonable accommodation, which permits the employee to frequently operate a personal computer.

• Sufficient personal mobility and physical reflexes, with or without reasonable accommodation, which permits the employee to work in an office setting and at a keyboard for an extended period of time, considered to be approximately 50%-90% of the workday.

Working Conditions: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Must be comfortable working in an office environment to include moderate noise levels.

• The working area is primarily in an open office setting with reasonable lighting and controlled temperatures.

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As thinkers and creators, we look at the world with an open mind, engaging with the possibilities and broadening our perspective in an inclusive way.

Disclaimer:

The above statements reflect the general details considered necessary to decide the principal functions of the job identified and shall not be construed as a detailed description of all work requirements that may be inherent in the job. Job incumbents are expected to perform other duties necessary for the effective operation of the position, department, or the business.