Firmware Engineer

Cohu Careers Open · verified Oct 24, 2026

San Diego Full-time Mid-level Embedded & Firmware

At a glance

Mid-level Embedded & Firmware role at Cohu Careers. San Diego · full-time · $115,000–$135,000 base.

SalaryStated by Cohu Careers

$115,000 – $135,000

Base salary for this role, in USD per year, as published in the posting.

This role, from Cohu CareersOur estimate for the market: $123,638–$175,500Median $137,500

Below the market median of $137,500 for mid-level embedded & firmware roles in San Diego.

Worked out from 11 postings that stated pay, median $137,500. Last updated Oct 2, 2026.

RoleEmbedded & Firmware

SeniorityMid-level

LocationSan Diego

EmploymentFull-time

Base pay$115,000–$135,000

PostedSep 18, 2026 · 5w ago

Role brief

techroles summary, based on the employer's posting.

What you'll do

Take ownership of firmware for the Electrical Engineering group, supporting current products and leading its firmware work
Build bare-metal C/C++ firmware for STM32H7 boards, from pin choices and board startup through drivers and debugging
Maintain older production firmware and diagnose legacy designs, including work with sparse documentation
Develop the C++ PC interface for Ethernet, CAN and serial connections, with command, scripting and live graphing features
Prepare design, interface, test and release documents, and guide customers on using equipment interfaces

What you bring

At least eight years developing firmware and providing application support for complex electromechanical or control systems
A bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering or a related discipline
Strong C and C++ skills, including Windows applications, plus bare-metal work on STM32 or similar ARM Cortex-M chips
Experience with board bring-up from schematics, communication protocols, bootloaders and Git

Who this fits

This role suits an experienced engineer ready to work as the group's sole firmware specialist, set priorities across projects and take ownership of existing code. You'll work with customers and internal teams, including training customer engineers, and travel as projects and customer support require. Strong English communication is required.

From the employer

Main Objectives

Lead the development and support of all firmware in the Electrical Engineering group, becoming the group's firmware owner within approximately six months.
Act as the technical bridge between sales, customers, and engineering: provide pre and post sales support, and train customers to interface with our equipment.
Implement firmware changes on legacy products still in production, including analysis of older designs where documentation is limited.
Support the development of new electronic boards, from pin definition through firmware delivery.

Essential Functions/Major Responsibilities:

Develop bare metal C/C++ firmware for STM32H7 microcontrollers, from pin assignment and board bring up with hardware engineers through peripheral drivers and debugging (JTAG, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, etc.)
Develop and improve our advanced PC based C++ graphical user interface, which supports multiple communication interfaces (Ethernet, CAN, serial), command and scripting operation, and real time graphing.
Create and maintain documentation: initial design requirements, firmware architecture and design documents, interface specifications (command sets and protocols), test plans and results, release notes, and customer interface guides.
Write clean, well structured, well commented code, managed in Git with full traceability of changes to requirements and releases.

Essential Quality Expectations

Strong analytical skills and sound engineering judgment under ambiguity.
Ability to quickly learn and take ownership of existing code bases, including those with limited documentation.
Self directed, able to work as the group's sole firmware engineer and set priorities across multiple projects.
Clear communication with customers and internal teams, including teaching customer engineers to use our interfaces.
Commitment to technical excellence, documentation, and knowledge transfer.
Customer oriented thinking and ability to represent the company in technical discussions

Qualifications & Requirements:

Education/Training: Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or a related field (MS desired).
Experience: Minimum of 8 years of experience in firmware development and application support for complex electromechanical systems / control systems.
Skills/Technical Requirements:
- Strong proficiency in C and C++, including Windows application development.
- Experience with bare metal firmware on STM32 or similar ARM Cortex M microcontrollers, understanding of microcontroller architecture and digital circuit design, experience bringing up boards from schematics
- Experience with communication protocols such as UART, SPI, I2C, CAN, and Ethernet. EtherCAT is a plus.
- Experience in bootloader development and Git.
- FPGA experience is a plus.
- Experience with motion control and/or control systems. Thermal systems experience is a plus.
- Willingness to travel as required for projects and customer support.
- Excellent English communication skills. German and/or French is a plus.

Compensation: The estimated base pay range for this position is $115,000 to $135,000 per year, depending on qualifications, experience, education, and other job-related factors. This range represents Cohu’s good faith estimate of what it reasonably expects to pay for this role upon hire. This role may also be eligible for other compensation programs as determined by company policy.

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