Embedded Software Engineer - Microcontrollers
Zoox
Accounting & Finance, Software Engineering
Foster City, CA, USA
Posted on Sep 29, 2025
The Core Firmware team is responsible for building the foundation upon which Zoox-owned firmware applications are built. Core Firmware engineers work with a diverse set of microcontrollers and application processors. We make sure the embedded platforms available to Firmware and Software teams are safe, stable, performant, secure, and flexible. Many of these things are often at odds with each other, and navigating these tradeoffs while shipping code that our autonomous vehicle platform depends on is core to the job.
As a member of the Core Firmware MCU Platforms team, you will build foundational software/firmware that is used across different microcontrollers in the vehicle. The software/firmware we write interacts with various microcontrollers, providing the foundation on which other teams build applications and interface with hardware on these respective devices. We work with numerous partner teams, both within and outside the Firmware organization. In this role, you will be able to flex your skills developed in the embedded world in an environment that extends well beyond it. You will also be a key player to ensure the software/firmware used by other teams and multiple microcontrollers is safe, stable, robust, and secure.
Responsibilities
- Develop on-vehicle embedded software/firmware in C++ in a real-time environment, and as appropriate, the supporting tools to tie it to Zoox’s ecosystem of off-vehicle infrastructure (Python in most cases)
- Author requirements and design documentation to craft what is to be built, why it needs to be that way, and what your specific solution looks like
- Work with our Component V&V Engineers to keep the quality bar high through the coordination of test strategies
- Troubleshoot and root-cause problems from the field, starting at the system level, often ending deep in the inner workings of our platform
Qualifications
- 10+ YOE in C/C++ development
- Systems programming in a real-time (RTOS) environment
- Understanding RTOS platform development
- Understanding how to link software/firmware to hardware
- Understanding how bootloaders on MCUs generally work
Bonus Qualifications
- Python development
- Network/CAN programming experience
- Extensive bootloader experience
- MCU Security