Embedded System Engineer - REMOTE / Work From Home

About the Role

This is a hands-on senior engineering position focused entirely on embedded firmware. You will be responsible for developing and maintaining firmware for resource-constrained microcontrollers using bare metal C on 8051 chipsets, as well as real-time operating system development on ARM Cortex-M4 processors using FreeRTOS. You will work closely with hardware engineers, back-end developers, and product teams to deliver stable and efficient firmware for production devices.

Key Responsibilities

• Write, optimize, and maintain bare metal firmware in C for 8051 microcontrollers
• Develop and maintain RTOS-based firmware using FreeRTOS on ARM Cortex-M4 processors
• Implement and manage peripheral drivers (UART, SPI, I2C, GPIO, ADC, PWM, timers)
• Design and implement task scheduling, inter-task communication, and synchronization using FreeRTOs primitives (queues, semaphores, mutexes, event groups)
• Optimize firmware for memory footprint, power consumption, and real-time performance
• Perform hardware bring-up, board-level debugging, and integration testing
• Collaborate with hardware engineers to review schematics and define hardware/firmware interfaces
• Write and maintain technical documentation including firmware specs, memory maps, and register descriptions
• Conduct code reviews and enforce embedded coding standards (MISRA-Cor equivalent) Troubleshoot and resolve hardware-firmware integration issues in the field and on the bench

Competitive senior level salary package /negotiable/

General

• 5+ years of professional embedded systems firmware development experience
• Strong proficiency in C programming for embedded/bare metal environments
• Solid understanding of microcontroller architecture, memory-mapped I/O, and interrupt handling
• Experience reading and working directly with datasheets, hardware reference manuals, and schematics
• Proficiency with embedded debugging tools: JTAG, SWD, logic analyzers, and oscilloscopes
• Experience with version control using Git in a hardware/firmware development context

Bare Metal- 8051 Architecture

• Proven hands-on experience writing bare metal C firmware for 8051-based microcontrollers
• Deep understanding of 8051 memory architecture (internal RAM, SFRs, external memory)
• Experience configuring and managing 8051 peripherals directly via registers (timers, serial
• ports, interrupts)
• Familiarity with 8051 toolchains (Keil µVision, SDCC, or equivalent)
• Understanding of 8051 interrupt vector table, ISR design, and interrupt priority management
• Experience with 8051 serial communication (UART) and bit-banging protocols

RTOS - FreeRTOS on ARM Cortex-M4

• Strong hands-on experience with FreeRTOS on ARM Cortex-M4 processors
• Deep understanding of FreeRTOS kernel internals: task management, scheduler, tick configuration
• Experience implementing FreeRTOS queues, semaphores, mutexes, timers, and event groups
• Proficiency with ARM Cortex-M4 architecture: NVIC, SysTick, MPU, FPU, and exception handling
• Experience with Cortex-M4 peripheral driver development (HAL and register-level)
• Familiarity with ARM toolchains: GCC ARM, Keil MDK, or IAR Embedded Workbench
• Experience with low-power design and tickless idle mode in FreeRTOS

Communication Protocols

• Strong working knowledge of UART, SPI, I2C communication protocols at the firmware level
• Experience implementing and debugging protocol stacks on both 8051 and Cortex-M4 platforms
• Familiarity with CAN, RS-485, or other industrial protocols is a plus

Soft Skills

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a systematic debugging approach
• Meticulous attention to detail- embedded bugs can be hardware-destructive
• Ability to work independently and take full ownership of firmware modules
• Clear technical communication for cross-discipline collaboration with hardware and software teams
• Patient and methodical comfortable working at the intersection of software and hardware

Nice to Have

• Experience with CMSIS (Cortex Microcontroller Software Interface Standard)
• Familiarity with STM32 or similar Cortex-M4 based microcontroller families
• Knowledge of bootloader design and firmware over-the-air (FOTA) update mechanisms
• Exposure to hardware security practices (secure boot, code signing, flash protection)
• Experience with unit testing frameworks for embedded systems (Unity, Ceedling, or similar
• Familiarity with MISRA-C coding standards
• Background in smart building, IoT, or access control device development
• Experience with Embedded Linux or Zephyr RTOS as secondary platforms