Staff Firmware Engineer

Watney builds and deploys autonomous robotic systems that increase the speed and capacity of buildout, starting with data centers. At Watney, firmware engineers write the firmware for our robots' mainboards and actuators, and bring up new boards with our manufacturing partners. They work with our mechanical, electrical, and ML teams as new sensors and embodiments arrive. The firmware you write sets how reliable and safe every robot is. The architecture bets you make carry into every robot we build after this one.

Responsibilities

Lead board bring-up with our manufacturing partners, from specification discovery through first boot; Write the drivers and hardware abstraction layers that run on our microcontrollers and actuators; Build and run automated hardware-in-the-loop tests across embodiments; Build the common firmware base for mainboards and actuators, in Rust and C; Work with the ML and mechanical teams to prototype and validate new sensors

Requirements

Have shipped production firmware to millions of devices; Have written production firmware in Rust, C, or both; Have debugged communication buses on real hardware; Have built or operated hardware-in-the-loop test infrastructure; Have worked with contract manufacturers or OEMs to turn ambiguous requirements into a board layout; Have worked with electromechanical systems or cameras and optics, electrically, mechanically, or in software; Have working knowledge of electrical engineering and either field-oriented control or RF