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Embedded Systems Engineer, Humanoid Robotics

FieldAI· Engineering – Hardware Engineering
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Boston, MA$100k - $240kFull-timePosted 3mo ago

About the role

Embedded Systems Engineer focused on backpack compute platform for humanoid robots, including ARM/SoC/microcontroller design, firmware, kernel-level Linux work, sensor/actuator drivers, ML integration, and cross-platform generalization for field-deployable humanoid payloads.

Responsibilities

  • Compute Platform Design: Design and select the embedded compute platforms (ARM, SoC, microcontrollers) that power the humanoid payload, balancing capabilities against SWaP constraints.
  • Firmware & BSP Bring-Up: Write and customize bare-metal and RTOS firmware, board support packages (BSPs), and bootloaders for the humanoid payloads computing hardware.
  • Kernel-Level Development: Work at the Linux kernel level to support real-time performance and reliable operation of the backpack's compute stack.
  • Testing & Diagnostics: Conduct thermal profiling, power draw analysis, and latency measurement, and implement watchdogs and health checks for the compute stack.
  • Perception & State Sensor Drivers: Adapt, integrate, and where needed develop drivers for cameras, LiDAR, and IMUs that feed the backpack's compute platform with real-time perception and state-estimation data.
  • Motor, Joint & Tactile Drivers: Adapt, integrate, and where needed develop drivers for motors, joint actuators, and tactile sensors, supporting low-latency control and feedback for humanoid manipulation and locomotion.
  • Communication & Timing: Bring up wired (Ethernet, CAN, GMSL, SPI, I2C) and wireless interfaces with deterministic timing (PTP, PPS) across the payload.
  • ML Team Partnership: Partner closely with the ML team building the robot's software brain to ensure the compute platform meets their latency, memory, and throughput needs.
  • Manipulation Data Pipeline: Build the data pipeline connecting camera, LiDAR, IMU, and tactile input to joint manipulation commands, from raw sensor capture through to actuator control.
  • Edge ML Enablement: Support accelerated inference on the backpack so ML models can interpret sensor data and issue robot commands in real time.
  • ROS/DDS Middleware: Expose driver and sensor data through ROS/ROS2 and DDS interfaces so the ML team's software brain can consume it in real time.
  • Platform Abstraction: Design the backpack's compute and software architecture to generalize across a diversity of humanoid robot platforms.
  • Cross-Team Collaboration: Work closely with mechanical, electrical, and sensor engineers to develop a tightly integrated backpack payload.
  • Technical Leadership: Lead the technical direction of backpack compute development, from architecture decisions through implementation.
  • Safety & E-Stops: Implement e-stop circuitry and safety monitoring on the backpack platform, laying the groundwork for functional safety as the fleet matures.

Qualifications

  • Education: B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related field.
  • Experience Level: Minimum of 3+ years of hands-on experience with embedded systems; mid-level to senior and staff levels welcome.
  • Programming: Proficient in C++ and Python for embedded and application-level development.
  • Embedded Systems Experience: Experience bringing up and customizing bare-metal and RTOS firmware, Linux kernel and device drivers, and BSPs across platforms such as Jetson or custom SBCs.
  • Driver Development: Experience developing drivers for cameras, LiDAR, IMUs, tactile sensors, or motors, connecting sensors and actuators to embedded compute.
  • ML/Edge Acceleration: Familiarity with GPU, TPU, or NPU offload and frameworks such as CUDA or TensorRT for edge inference, ideally supporting manipulation or perception models.
  • Real-Time Communication Protocols: Hands-on experience with Ethernet, CAN/CAN-FD, SPI, I2C, UART, USB, or PCIe, wireless links, and timing protocols such as PTP.
  • ROS & Middleware: Familiarity with ROS/ROS2 and DDS for exposing sensor and actuator interfaces to higher-level software.
  • SWaP-Constrained Design: Experience designing compute hardware and firmware under tight size, weight, and power (SWaP) constraints, such as wearable or backpack-style payloads.

Skills

Required:C++PythonLinux kernelBare-metal & RTOS firmwareBSPs/BootloadersSensor drivers (Camera/LiDAR/IMU)Motor/Joint/Tactile driversROS/ROS2 & DDSSWaP design
Nice to have:Edge ML (CUDA/TensorRT)
Last updated Oct 22, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About FieldAI

Robot intelligence built for the real-world.

FieldAI is the leader in deploying general-purpose robots in unstructured environments, providing a universal brain that works across many robots, and many tasks.

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