Senior Firmware Engineer

Responsibilities

You'll discover how to use new peripherals and extend the functionality of existing ones within our robotic system, often requiring complex configuration files or programming in a vendor's specialized language. You'll configure and program devices, including PLCs, motor controllers, and safety systems, and implement communication via Modbus, PROFIsafe, CAN, Ethernet, and similar protocols. Working closely with hardware and software teams, you'll design clean, well-documented APIs between peripherals and Pickle's object-oriented, distributed platform, and characterize the performance of peripheral interfaces to inform the design and implementation of meaningful improvements.

You'll design and implement safety-critical features, including emergency stop mechanisms, collision-avoidance systems, and other safety-related functionality. To support this, you'll develop Python scripts, test harnesses, and debugging tools to verify the reliability and safety of firmware across the system — ensuring that what we build works dependably in the real world.

You'll drive design and code reviews, raise quality standards across the firmware team, and foster a culture of technical excellence. Beyond your own work, you'll actively contribute to improving development processes, tooling, and documentation as the team and product continue to scale.

Skills

You bring 5–7 years of professional software development experience with demonstrated excellence in the physical layer of complex systems, safety PLCs, motor control, sensor acquisition, and real-time control loops. You have deep proficiency in Python and object-oriented programming, writing clean, maintainable, well-tested code that scales. You're also strong in C and/or C++ for embedded systems development, including microcontrollers, RTOS environments, and embedded development toolchains. Hands-on experience with real-time operating systems, PLCs, and embedded development tools is a given, and you're comfortable picking up an oscilloscope to debug input/output problems, as at home on the bench as you are in the codebase.

You have a proven ability to read the manual for a complex peripheral, a rangefinder, a motor controller, and a robotic arm, and to collaborate with vendor support engineers to push them to the edge of their capabilities. You're experienced with version control via GitHub and collaborative development workflows, and familiarity with relevant safety standards such as ISO 13849, IEC 62046, ANSI B11, or ANSI RIA R15 is a strong plus. You communicate complex technical tradeoffs clearly to both engineering peers and non-technical stakeholders, and your detail-oriented, problem-solving nature makes you someone others rely on when things get hard.

You hold a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering, or equivalent practical experience. You're genuinely excited about robotics, automation, and building physical AI systems that work reliably in the real world.

This role is based on-site in Charlestown, MA, a minimum of 4 days per week — working with robots in a warehouse environment is part of the job and should be expected.