Senior Firmware Engineer
At a glance
Senior Embedded & Firmware role at Rhoda AI. Mountain View · full-time · $150,000–$225,000 base.
techroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Build and maintain firmware for motion-control nodes, keeping communication over EtherCAT deterministic
- Set RTOS scheduling and timing limits, then improve interrupt and DMA handling for lower latency
- Configure EtherCAT clocks, mailbox protocols and PDO mappings across masters and slaves
- Add safety checks such as torque shutdown, watchdogs and heartbeat monitoring
- Validate firmware with unit, hardware-in-the-loop and integration tests, and support controller bring-up
What you bring
- A bachelor's degree or higher in electrical, computer or robotics engineering
- At least two years building embedded firmware for real-time control systems
- Experience with C/C++, microcontrollers, RTOS and low-level interfaces such as I2C, SPI or CAN
- Hands-on debugging with JTAG or lab instruments, plus experience developing safety-critical embedded code
Who this fits
This is a senior firmware role with an MTS track, focused on real-time control across humanoid platforms. The position is based in Mountain View.
From the employer
At Rhoda AI, we’re building the next generation of generalist intelligent robots. We own the full robotics stack from high-performance hardware and robot systems to the infrastructure and state-of-the-art foundation world models that control our robots. Our robots are designed to be generalists capable of operating in complex, real-world environments and handling long-tail edge cases, made possible by our cutting edge research and end-to-end system design. We've raised over $450M and are investing aggressively in model research, infrastructure, hardware development, and manufacturing scale-up to make generalist robotics a reality.
You will own the development of Rhoda's low-level firmware stack for distributed real-time control across humanoid platforms. This role centers on deterministic communication, control-loop synchronization, and embedded software robustness in an EtherCAT environment spanning dozens of joints, sensors, and distributed controllers. You will design, implement, and validate firmware components that guarantee sub-millisecond coordination between motor drivers, safety controllers, and perception nodes — bridging the mechanical, electrical, and control domains.
This role is an MTS with a clear path to grow!
What You'll Do
Select and tune RTOS; define priorities and scheduling; optimize interrupt and DMA paths; harden watchdogs and recovery; measure and guard timing budgets
Design, implement, and maintain low-level firmware for real-time motion control nodes over EtherCAT
Develop synchronization and communication layers ensuring deterministic cycle times (<1ms)
Configure and optimize EtherCAT masters and slaves (distributed clocks, mailbox protocols, PDO mapping)
Implement real-time safety mechanisms (Safe Torque Off, watchdogs, and heartbeat monitoring)
Collaborate with Electronics, Controls, and Systems teams to define timing budgets and data interfaces
Contribute to the architecture of the hardware abstraction layer (HAL) and firmware APIs for actuator control
Develop unit, HIL, and integration tests for firmware validation
Profile and optimize ISR and DMA paths to minimize latency and jitter
Support bring-up and debugging of custom actuator controllers and sensor boards
Document firmware architecture, test results, and safety compliance evidence for design reviews
What We're Looking For
Bachelor's or higher in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Robotics
2+ years of experience in embedded firmware development for real-time control systems
Experience with low-level system interfaces (I2C, SPI, Ethernet, USB, CAN bus)
Experience with micro-controller firmware development across ARM Cortex-M and similar architectures
Proficiency in C/C++ and experience with low-level debugging (JTAG, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes)
Experience with real time operating systems (RTOS) (FreeRTOS, Zephyr RTOS)
Familiarity with SPI, I²C, UART, PWM, ADC, and sensor interface design
Demonstrated ability to write reliable, well-structured, and maintainable embedded code in safety-critical environments
Evidence of shipping real-time-critical products
Nice to Have (But Not Required)
Embedded Linux software development. Board Support Package (BSP) development and integration on Linux-based platforms
Linux kernel programming: device tree, Kconfig, device drivers, kernel modules.
Experience with GMSL2 and MIPI-CSI2 camera drivers (V4L2).
Experience with Field-Oriented Control (FOC) implementation for BLDC motor drives
Yocto Project / Bitbake for custom distribution builds.
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