Senior Firmware Engineer

About the role

Rhoda AI is building generalist intelligent robots and needs a senior engineer to own the low‑level firmware stack for real‑time control across humanoid platforms. You will work on deterministic communication, control‑loop synchronization, and embedded robustness in an EtherCAT environment.

Key responsibilities

• Select and tune RTOS, define priorities, optimize interrupt and DMA paths, and harden watchdogs.
• Design, implement, and maintain low‑level firmware for motion‑control nodes over EtherCAT, ensuring sub‑millisecond cycle times.
• Configure and optimize EtherCAT masters and slaves, including distributed clocks and PDO mapping.
• Implement real‑time safety mechanisms such as Safe Torque Off, watchdogs, and heartbeat monitoring.
• Collaborate with electronics, controls, and systems teams to define timing budgets and data interfaces.
• Develop unit, HIL, and integration tests; support bring‑up and debugging of custom actuator controllers and sensor boards.

Required profile

• Bachelor's or higher in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Robotics.
• 2+ years of embedded firmware development for real‑time control systems.
• Experience shipping safety‑critical, real‑time products.

Required skills

• RTOS selection and tuning (FreeRTOS, Zephyr).
• EtherCAT master/slave configuration and deterministic communication.
• Low‑level interfaces: I2C, SPI, UART, CAN, Ethernet, USB, PWM, ADC.
• Embedded C/C++ development on ARM Cortex‑M microcontrollers.
• Low‑level debugging tools: JTAG, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes.
• Experience with interrupt service routines (ISR) and DMA optimization.