{"id":3532878,"url":"https://alion.io/job/1x-technologies-firmware-engineer-testing","title":"Firmware Engineer - Testing","company":{"id":47967,"name":"1X Technologies","domain":"1x.tech","url":"https://alion.io/company/1x-technologies","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":"junior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["San Carlos, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":150000,"max":190000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":190000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":2,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Buildkite","optional":false},{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Embedded C","optional":false},{"name":"EtherCAT","optional":false},{"name":"Git","optional":false},{"name":"GitHub Actions","optional":false},{"name":"Jenkins","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Battery Management Systems","optional":true},{"name":"C","optional":true},{"name":"FreeRTOS","optional":true},{"name":"Pytest","optional":true},{"name":"Robot Framework","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-30T16:15:54Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-30","last_verified_at":"2026-11-06T01:54:10Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":6,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":6},"description":"About 1X\nWe're building humanoid robots that work in home - doing the chores, handling the tasks, and giving people their time back. Simple, but it's not.\nTo do this right, we have to solve robotics, AI, manufacturing - at the same time, at scale, in a form factor that has to be safe enough to live with your family. If you're inspired by this, you'll thrive here. We've been at this since 2014 and we're at the point where the hard problems are behind us and the hard work is in front of us.\nNEO is our flagship - a home robot designed to move, learn, and operate in the real world alongside real people. We're not demoing it - we're shipping it. We're excited to meet you, if this excites you.\nIf you've spent your career working on problems that matter and want to see them actually reach the world - this is that moment. We're scaling, we're hiring with intention, and we need people who want to build something that will genuinely change how humans spend their time - safely creating abundance for all.\nAbout the Team\nThe Firmware team owns the embedded software on every hardware subsystem in NEO: communication architecture, power management and motor control. That firmware is what lets NEO move safely, take on new hardware quickly and scale across many embedded nodes, and it gates our biggest product milestones on the way to production.\nYour Charter\nThe mission of this role is to make every firmware release safe to put on robots in people's homes, while keeping firmware developers shipping fast. You own firmware quality across NEO and are the testing partner for every firmware developer on the team. You decide whether a release is ready to go out, and you build the rigs, automation and test plans that tell the team quickly when something is broken.\nKey Outcomes\nOwn firmware release quality: define release test criteria, run release qualification and sign off on every firmware release before it reaches the fleet\n\nPartner with every firmware developer early in feature work to define test strategy, close coverage gaps and get feedback into their hands before code merges, so the team ships faster without breaking the robot\n\nBuild hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test rigs, from single boards to full actuator and robot setups, with fault injection for power, communication and sensor failures and validation of real-time buses (EtherCAT, CAN/CAN FD, SPI, UART, I2C)\n\nDeliver automated Python regression suites that run in CI on every firmware change with clear pass/fail results, and turn field and fleet issues into new regression tests\n\nProve that safety-critical and security behavior works as specified, including fault detection, current and thermal limits, safe torque-off, secure boot and firmware signing, under edge cases and malformed inputs\n\nDrive fleet robustness by confirming every node recovers to a known safe state without manual intervention after failed or interrupted updates, power loss during flashing, corrupted images and watchdog resets, backed by long-duration soak and stress testing\n\nKey Competencies\nYou treat developer velocity as your own goal. You find out what each firmware engineer needs to test their work and get it to them before they have to ask\n\nYou do whatever the job calls for: manual bench testing, writing automation, building a custom fixture or modifying hardware to reach a hard-to-test condition\n\nYou break complex embedded systems into testable requirements and find the failure modes others miss, especially in fault handling and safety behavior, which you prove rather than assume\n\nYou can work out whether a bug lives in firmware, hardware or the test setup, using a scope, logic analyzer and bus analyzer\n\nYou script anything you run twice, write clear bug reports and push back on unclear requirements, working closely with firmware, electrical, actuator and operations engineers\n\nMinimum Requirements\nBachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science or a related field, or equivalent experience, with 2+ years of firmware or embedded systems testing\n\nDemonstrated ability to test embedded systems at the hardware-software boundary, including timing and fault conditions, and to read embedded C/C++ to design targeted tests\n\nProven track record of building test automation in Python and Bash, using Git and CI systems such as GitHub Actions, Jenkins or Buildkite\n\nExperience with communication protocols such as CAN, UART, I2C and SPI\n\nExperience with lab equipment, hands-on: oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power supplies, electronic loads and bus analyzers\n\nPreferred Skills\nExperience in building HIL test systems and automation frameworks (e.g. pytest, Robot Framework), including dynamometers, environmental chambers or fault-injection hardware\n\nExperience in testing motor control or power electronics firmware (BLDC/PMSM drives, battery management systems, power distribution) and EtherCAT or CAN FD at 1 kHz and above\n\nFamiliarity with safety-critical standards such as IEC 61508, ISO 13849 or ISO 26262, including requirements traceability and verification\n\nExperience in embedded security testing: secure boot, code signing, hardware security modules or TPMs, fuzzing, penetration testing or fault-injection attacks, and standards such as IEC 62443 or ISO/SAE 21434\n\nFamiliarity with real-time operating systems such as FreeRTOS, SafeRTOS or Zephyr, and a robotics, automotive or IoT device background\n\nWhat does a successful 1X Team Member look like\nTeam members at 1X who thrive here are builders. They move fast, own their work completely, and treat time like it's the one thing you can't get back - because it is. They say what they mean, finish what they start, and hold themselves to a standard before anyone has to ask. We push each other to be better, and we do it with honesty and respect.\nCompensation Range\n$150,000 - $190,000 + Equity\nBenefits\nComprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage\n\nGenerous paid time off, company holidays, and parental leave\n\n401(k) plan with company match (100% on the first 3% of contributions, 50% on the next 2%)\n\nFlexible Spending Accounts (FSA) and Health Savings Accounts (HSA) options\n\nCommuter benefits (transit and parking)\n\nShort-term and long-term disability, and life insurance\n\nEmployee Assistance Program (EAP) for mental health, financial, and personal support\n\nOnsite snacks and catered lunches\n\nEqual Opportunity Employer\n1X is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status, medical condition, genetic information, disability, military or veteran status, justice system impact, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.","description_format":"text","description_chars":6862,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":2,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Life insurance","Parental leave"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Robotics","Robotics AI","Humanoid Robots"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-30T16:37:33Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 43","filings_12m":43,"filings_prev_12m":14,"green_card_filings_12m":0,"median_offered_wage_usd":159477,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-29T16:27:21+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)"],"filings_for_role_12m":2}],"liveness":{"score":90,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.903,"p_room":1,"age_days":5,"expected_fill_days":69,"reasons":["conf:0","velocity","win:early","comp:junior"],"computed_at":"2026-11-05T05:54:30Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":190000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/1x-technologies-firmware-engineer-testing","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/1x-technologies-firmware-engineer-testing.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-06T03:54:37Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":6636,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-07T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":47967},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=47967"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2F1x-technologies-firmware-engineer-testing"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2F1x-technologies-firmware-engineer-testing"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2F1x-technologies-firmware-engineer-testing"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/1x-technologies-firmware-engineer-testing\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2F1x-technologies-firmware-engineer-testing"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3532878}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"1x.tech","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3532878},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. Docs: https://alion.io/developers"}}