Firmware Engineer

Stripe is a financial infrastructure platform for businesses. Millions of companies—from the world’s largest enterprises to the most ambitious startups—use Stripe to accept payments, grow their revenue, and accelerate new business opportunities. Our mission is to increase the GDP of the internet, and we have a staggering amount of work ahead. That means you have an unprecedented opportunity to put the global economy within everyone’s reach while doing the most important work of your career. 

Stripe Terminal helps Stripe users extend their online presence into the physical world. The Terminal team’s mission is to make it as easy for businesses to accept in-person payments as the Stripe API has done for online payments. With Terminal, businesses can unlock in-person payments use cases that are right for their business model—whether it’s creating a flagship retail experience, extending their website to a pop-up store, or enabling a mobile point-of-sale at their next event. 

You will be responsible for all aspects of software development, which includes building, writing automated tests, and deploying software on our embedded payments platforms. This team works closely with partner teams throughout the hardware and software product lifecycle, from hardware manufacturing to Android application teams. 

• Design, develop and maintain user interfaces and underlying functionality for embedded point-of-sale software that handle secure payment processing across several products simultaneously.
• Implement industry standard protocols to match product capabilities.
• Create, maintain, and execute application unit tests as part of Continuous Integration.
• Analyze bug reports and manage the defect resolution process (disposition issues, resolve issues, and report issue status).
• Work closely with QA staff to ensure appropriate test cases are created, maintained, and executed.
• Collaborate on system-side code, communication protocol design, and kernel development.
• Interact with global teams with excellent communication skills to provide support information.
• Routinely perform code reviews to ensure high quality designs and implementation.
• Assist in ensuring quality and timeliness of product and feature development.
• Proactively solve problems and work independently and within a team environment, with limited guidance.
• Work closely with your hardware counterparts on product design and have the ability to read schematics, provide feedback on I/O mapping, developing manufacturing test software to ensure the devices are built to specification.

We’re looking for someone who meets the minimum requirements to be considered for the role. If you meet these requirements, you are encouraged to apply. The preferred qualifications are a bonus, not a requirement.

Minimum requirements

• 2+ years software development experience.
• 2+ years working with embedded, mobile, or other connected devices.
• Proficiency in embedded programming language C.
• Experience using automated testing, build systems, or device firmware communication.
• Experience with embedded systems, knowledge of operating systems, familiarity with software development tools, understanding of hardware-software interfaces.
• Experience architecting and developing multithreaded applications, preferably in embedded systems.
• Experience with common communications protocols (e.g., SPI, UART, I2C, USB, and others), debugging practices (e.g., JTAG and associated GDB integrations), and basic electrical design principles.
• Experience adding, monitoring and parsing telemetry data to proactively resolve issues.
• Degree in CS, EE, or equivalent practical experience.
• Fluent in spoken and written English.

Preferred qualifications

• Proficiency in C++ or Golang is highly advantageous.
• Experience developing on ARM platforms.
• Experience with point-of-sale hardware and peripherals.
• Knowledge of EMV standards and payment protocols.
• Knowledge of PCI standards, transaction processing, and related retail payment technologies.
• Knowledge of low-level security architectures, including TrustZone, anti-tamper mechanisms, Secure Boot, and Hardware Root of Trust.
• Knowledge of foundational cryptography, including symmetric/asymmetric algorithms and secure key exchange protocols.