Senior Firmware Engineer

ABOUT THE ROLE

Join the core hardware team of a Y Combinator–backed consumer wearable startup as a Senior Firmware Engineer, helping build the firmware powering a next-generation wearable platform. You'll play a foundational role in defining the firmware architecture and taking a category-defining device from prototype all the way through to mass production.

This role sits at the intersection of low-power embedded design, sensor integration, and production engineering — and it matters because the reliability and battery life of the product depend on the work you'll own. You'll be working in-person in New York City alongside a small, fast-moving engineering team.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Architect and develop embedded firmware for battery-powered wearable devices.
• Own core systems for low-power wireless connectivity, sensor processing, and data pipelines.
• Design and optimize Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connectivity for ultra-low-power operation.
• Build robust power management systems to maximize battery life.
• Develop multi-core embedded data pipelines for real-time sensor acquisition and processing.
• Integrate biometric and environmental sensors via SPI, I2C, UART, GPIO, DMA, and interrupts.
• Optimize firmware for performance, memory usage, latency, and reliability.
• Lead board bring-up, debugging, validation, and manufacturing support.
• Collaborate closely with hardware, algorithms, product, and industrial design teams across the full product lifecycle.
• Establish firmware best practices, testing frameworks, and CI workflows.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Required

• 6+ years of embedded firmware engineering experience, with a track record of shipping battery-powered consumer electronics or wearables to production.
• Deep expertise in Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) systems and low-power embedded architectures.
• Strong proficiency in Embedded C/C++ and RTOS-based systems (e.g., FreeRTOS, Zephyr).
• Hands-on experience with ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers and modern debugging tools.
• Experience building multi-core embedded data pipelines for real-time sensor acquisition.
• Proven power management architecture skills for always-on, low-power embedded systems.
• Sensor integration experience using SPI, I2C, UART, GPIO, DMA, and interrupt-driven designs.
• Experience with board bring-up, debugging, validation, and manufacturing support.

Nice to Have

• Background in sensor fusion, signal processing, or biometric sensing.
• Experience with embedded platforms such as Nordic, Qualcomm, Ambiq, or STMicroelectronics.
• Familiarity with secure bootloaders, OTA firmware updates, and embedded security practices.
• Experience building wearable or health-tech devices.
• Comfort moving quickly in a fast-paced, collaborative startup environment.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

• Salary: $120,000 – $200,000 per year, depending on experience.
• Equity participation typical of an early-stage startup.
• Visa sponsorship: Not available at this time.

LOCATION

This is a full-time, on-site role based in New York City, NY. The team works in person together — remote or fully distributed arrangements are not available for this position.