Senior Firmware Engineer
aim · Seattle ·
- Seniority
- Senior
- Category
- Embedded
- Experience
- 5+ years
aim · Seattle ·
About us
AIM builds autonomy for the real world - robots that move mountains. Our systems fuse software, hardware, robotics, and mission-critical infrastructure into ruggedized, safety-critical machinery operating on jobsites across the world. We replace decades of manual, error-prone, high-risk work with intelligent machines that reshape how earthmoving is done.
Firmware is the foundation of everything we ship. It connects compute to control, sensors to decisions, and safety systems to real-world actuation. Our firmware runs on embedded systems inside heavy machinery - operating under real-time constraints, harsh environments, and zero tolerance for failure.
We’re scaling fast, building our Generation 2 hardware platform, and need firmware that is deterministic, observable, and production-ready at fleet scale. Learn more about AIM here.
About you
You’re a firmware engineer who thrives at the boundary between hardware and software. You write clean, efficient, reliable C++ code that interacts directly with real-world systems - and you care deeply about correctness, timing, and failure modes.
You’re comfortable working close to the metal: microcontrollers, embedded Linux systems, device drivers, communication buses, and hardware interfaces. You debug with oscilloscopes, logs, and intuition. You understand that firmware is not just code - it’s the behavior of the machine.
You take ownership of systems end-to-end - from hardware bring-up to production deployment - and you design firmware that is testable, observable, and resilient in the field. You have strong judgment about trade-offs between performance, safety, and complexity.
You want to work on systems where reliability is non-negotiable and where your code directly controls machines operating in the real world.
About us together
We’re building the firmware foundation for autonomous heavy equipment. That means solving hard problems:
real-time control loops and deterministic execution
reliable communication across CAN, Ethernet, and serial interfaces
hardware variability across machines and environments
safety-critical systems with fail-safe behavior
debugging in high-noise, high-vibration, high-entropy environments
firmware update, configuration, and observability at fleet scale
We’ll iterate quickly, confront failures directly, and build systems that work not just in the lab - but in dust, heat, vibration, and real customer operations.
If that excites you - you’ll thrive here.
What you will own
As a Senior Firmware Engineer, you will design and build the core systems that power AIM’s autonomous machines and global fleet operations.
Architect & Build Firmware Systems
Design and implement firmware for AIM’s Generation 2 hardware platform using C++.
Develop low-level drivers, hardware abstraction layers (HAL), and system services.
Build robust interfaces to sensors, actuators, ECUs, and communication buses (CAN, SPI, I2C, UART, Ethernet).
Ensure deterministic behavior across real-time and near-real-time control paths.
Deliver Production-Ready Firmware
Write clean, efficient, testable embedded C++ code.
Implement robust error handling, watchdogs, and fail-safe mechanisms.
Build firmware that is resilient to hardware faults, communication loss, and environmental variability.
Contribute to firmware standards, architecture, and coding practices.
Improve System Reliability & Observability
Design and implement telemetry, logging, and debugging capabilities for embedded systems.
Diagnose complex system issues across firmware, hardware, and system integration boundaries.
Drive root-cause analysis and eliminate recurring failures in field deployments.
Own Hardware Bring-Up & Integration
Lead firmware bring-up for new hardware (Gen2 boards, daughterboards, interposers).
Work closely with Electrical and Mechanical Engineering to validate designs and interfaces.
Support validation efforts including HIL testing, regression testing, and field validation.
Drive Performance & Real-Time Behavior
Optimize timing, memory usage, and CPU utilization across embedded systems.
Ensure real-time constraints are met for control and safety-critical paths.
Balance system performance with robustness and maintainability.
Raise the Engineering Bar
Mentor engineers on embedded systems, firmware design, and debugging techniques.
Improve firmware development workflows, CI/CD pipelines, and testing frameworks.
Establish best practices for firmware reliability, safety, and maintainability.
Basic Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or equivalent hands-on experience.
5+ years of professional experience in firmware or embedded systems development.
Strong C++ experience in embedded or systems programming environments.
Experience developing firmware for microcontrollers or embedded Linux systems.
Experience with hardware interfaces and communication protocols (CAN, SPI, I2C, UART, Ethernet).
Strong debugging skills across hardware/software boundaries.
Experience designing systems for reliability, safety, and real-world deployment.
Proven ability to deliver production-quality firmware in cross-functional environments.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with safety-critical systems or real-time embedded systems.
Experience with robotics, autonomy, or heavy equipment systems.
Familiarity with RTOS or real-time scheduling concepts.
Experience with hardware bring-up and board-level debugging.
Experience with firmware update mechanisms (OTA, bootloaders, secure updates).
Experience with observability in embedded systems (logging, tracing, telemetry).
Familiarity with HIL testing, validation frameworks, or hardware test automation.
Experience working in high-reliability or high-entropy environments.
How you’ll stand out
You design firmware that is simple, deterministic, and highly reliable.
You think in terms of systems - not just code - and understand machine behavior end-to-end.
You bring a strong safety mindset and anticipate failure modes before they occur.
You debug issues others can’t - across firmware, hardware, and system interactions.
You raise engineering rigor through clarity, ownership, and high standards.
You connect firmware decisions directly to machine performance and customer outcomes.
What we offer
Opportunity to build firmware that directly controls autonomous heavy machinery in the real world.
High-impact ownership of AIM’s Generation 2 hardware platform.
Collaboration with world-class engineers across hardware, software, autonomy, and field operations.
Competitive compensation, equity, medical/dental/vision, 401(k), life insurance.
Travel opportunities to real-world jobsites across the U.S. and globally.