Senior Firmware Engineer – Hands

The role

You will develop, deploy, and maintain firmware for in-house dexterous hand designs for humanoid robots. This includes motor control, sensor integration, and real-time communications.

What you will do

• Develop, deploy, and maintain firmware for in-house dexterous hand designs.
• Implement motor control, sensor I/O, and real-time communications.
• Work with mechanical engineers to ensure firmware tracks mechanical design.
• Contribute to motor control firmware for small motors including current control and position/torque loops.
• Develop firmware for distributed embedded networks connecting multiple MCUs.
• Execute Hardware-in-the-Loop and Software-in-the-Loop testing strategies.
• Drive firmware quality and reliability for fleets of hands deployed in production robots.
• Bring up hand hardware from prototype through production with cross-functional teams.
• Participate in code reviews, design reviews, and pair debugging.
• Contribute to discussions on tooling, processes, and patterns.

Required qualifications

• Experience with humanoid robotics, prosthetics, dexterous manipulation, or other compact electromechanical systems.
• Experience with EtherCAT for real-time embedded communications.
• Experience developing in C and C++ for TI C2000 microcontrollers.
• Familiarity with safety-critical embedded system design standards, including MISRA C and ISO 26262.
• Exposure to Agile workflows, including sprint planning, design reviews, and code reviews.
• Experience integrating tactile, force, or position sensors into embedded systems.
• Contributions to firmware tooling, build systems, or developer infrastructure.
• Familiarity with real-time embedded firmware concepts.
• Familiarity with motor control concepts for BLDC motors.
• Familiarity with distributed embedded networks where multiple MCUs cooperate over real-time buses.
• Exposure to deploying firmware to embedded devices through internships, projects, or coursework.
• Strong hardware debugging skills using tools such as oscilloscopes and logic analyzers.

Nice to have

• Master's degree with a focus on controls, motor drives, or embedded systems
• Familiarity with model-based design tools (e.g., MATLAB/Simulink) for control design and code generation
• Altium Designer

About the company

Apptronik is a human-centered robotics company developing AI-powered robots to support humanity. Their flagship humanoid robot, Apollo, is built to collaborate with people in industries such as manufacturing and logistics.