Senior Firmware Engineer

About Tacit

We are an early-stage, deep tech startup based in San Francisco, developing innovative hardware that rethinks human-computer interaction. We are backed by General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, and Greylock Partners, with a founding team from Stanford, BrainGate, Oculus, and Tesla. While we can't reveal too much just yet, our team is tackling cutting-edge engineering challenges to bring revolutionary products to life.
About the role

We're looking for a Senior Firmware Engineer to help architect, develop, and ship next-generation neurotech and audio hardware products. As a key member of our growing firmware team, you will own major portions of the embedded software stack from early architecture through production and play a critical role in bringing complex consumer electronics to life.

You'll work closely with electrical, mechanical, software, ML, and product teams to transition systems from prototype to robust, production-ready products while helping establish strong firmware engineering practices across the company.

What you'll do

Embedded Firmware Architecture & Product Development

• Contribute to firmware architecture and embedded software development for battery-powered wearable consumer devices from concept through production.
• Own critical portions of the firmware stack including realtime data acquisition, connectivity, power management, bootloaders, and production infrastructure.
• Develop robust embedded systems using C/C++ and RTOS-based architectures including FreeRTOS or similar environments.
• Design and implement reliable firmware abstractions across sensors, audio systems, wireless subsystems, and power domains.
• Collaborate closely with electrical, mechanical, ML, mobile, and cloud teams to optimize system performance, latency, power consumption, and reliability.
• Operate effectively in a startup environment where engineers own large portions of the hardware and firmware stack.

Realtime Embedded Systems & Sensor Processing

• Design and optimize low-latency realtime firmware pipelines for sensor acquisition, timestamping, synchronization, and data movement.
• Develop DMA-driven acquisition systems for high-throughput sensor and audio streams.
• Implement deterministic scheduling and time alignment across multiple sensors and wireless subsystems.
• Optimize firmware for low-power operation, including sleep states, subsystem power gating, and dynamic power management.
• Debug complex concurrency, timing, and memory-related issues in deeply embedded systems.

Wireless Connectivity & Audio Systems

• Develop and integrate Bluetooth LE and Classic Bluetooth audio functionality on Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms or similar wireless SoCs.
• Work on wireless coexistence challenges involving Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and proprietary RF systems.
• Implement and optimize OTA firmware update systems, bootloaders, and device recovery mechanisms.
• Develop and optimize embedded audio pipelines including low-latency streaming, microphone processing, and synchronization.
• Collaborate with ML and algorithm teams on audio features including ANC, beamforming, filtering, and related realtime audio systems.

Bring-Up, Debug & Validation

• Lead firmware bring-up and debugging across embedded compute, sensors, wireless, and audio systems.
• Use advanced debugging tools including JTAG/SWD debuggers, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, and lab instrumentation.
• Develop automated validation, manufacturing, and regression test infrastructure.
• Perform root-cause analysis and resolve complex issues discovered during development, validation, manufacturing, or field deployment.

Production Firmware & Reliability

• Support EVT, DVT, and PVT builds and help ramp products to mass production.
• Design firmware with strong reliability, manufacturability, and serviceability principles.
• Develop factory programming, calibration, provisioning, and manufacturing test systems.
• Develop and maintain automated test infrastructure including Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) systems, regression testing frameworks, and CI pipelines for embedded firmware validation.
• Improve firmware robustness through telemetry, logging, automated validation systems, CI infrastructure, and field diagnostics.
• Help define engineering standards, development workflows, and firmware best practices across the organization.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in embedded firmware or software engineering.
• Strong proficiency in C/C++ for embedded systems.
• Strong experience with RTOS-based systems including FreeRTOS or similar platforms.
• Experience shipping at least one consumer electronics product, preferably wearable or audio-related devices.
• Experience developing firmware for battery-powered embedded systems with strong emphasis on power optimization.
• Experience with bootloaders, OTA update systems, and production firmware reliability.
• Experience with realtime embedded systems involving DMA, interrupts, concurrency, and low-latency data pipelines.
• Experience with Bluetooth LE and Classic Bluetooth audio systems.
• Strong hands-on debugging and bring-up experience across embedded hardware and firmware systems.
• Experience working closely with cross-functional hardware and software teams in fast-paced product development environments.
• Familiarity with Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms or similar wireless/audio SoCs.

Strong candidates may have

• Deep expertise in one or more of the following areas:
  
  • realtime sensor acquisition and synchronization
  • Bluetooth/Wi-Fi connectivity systems
  • embedded audio and ANC systems
• Experience with Qualcomm Snapdragon S-series platforms.
• Familiarity with STM32-based embedded systems.
• Experience with embedded audio interfaces such as I2S, PDM, TDM, or related protocols.
• Experience with wireless coexistence optimization across Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and proprietary RF systems.
• Experience building ANC, beamforming, or low-latency audio systems.
• Experience with embedded Linux systems.
• Experience developing manufacturing firmware, calibration systems, or automated test infrastructure.
• Experience with CI systems, automated testing, and firmware deployment pipelines.
• Experience with Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing systems.
• Experience with Python for tooling, automation, or instrumentation control.
• Familiarity with secure boot, firmware signing, and device security.
• Strong understanding of low-power embedded architecture and system-level power optimization.
• Experience using lab instrumentation including oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, RF tools, and protocol analyzers.

Compensation Range

$150,000 - $200,000/year
Benefits

• Competitive equity package
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Company size: 25-30 people
• Unlimited PTO
• Visa sponsorship
• 3% 401k matching