Firmware Engineer
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Nov 1, 2026. First seen by Alion on Oct 31, 2026.
What we’re looking for
Ability to read schematics and datasheets, bring up peripherals, and follow a problem from an app symptom down to the driver or hardware
Understanding of how embedded devices interface with phones or other hosts over Bluetooth/BLE, USB or Wi-Fi, including commands, status reporting, disconnects, retries, compatibility and partial transfers, or the ability to learn this quickly
Git, maintainable code, and tests that catch failures on real hardware
High ownership and clear communication across teams: you can turn an intermittent field report into a reproducible issue and a verified fix
A degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience
Open to any experience level, with no minimum years of experience. Show us what you’ve built and how you solve embedded problems
Audio-device firmware experience (voice recorders, microphones, headsets, wearables, or other products where capture quality and uninterrupted recording matter) is a strong plus
Experience with microphone and ADC signal paths, I²S/PDM, PCM/WAV, Opus or MP3 codecs, gain control, filtering, noise suppression or voice activity detection, and the ability to measure audio quality and explain the tradeoffs, is a strong plus
Experience with Zephyr or a similar RTOS, ARM Cortex-M, Actions Semiconductor platforms, or vendor SDKs and proprietary DSP components is a strong plus
Experience with flash or SD storage, FAT or LittleFS, recording recovery after power loss, and preserving files during concurrent recording and sync is a strong plus
Experience with low-power consumer electronics, bootloaders, secure boot or signed updates, Python scripting, CI and production test fixtures is a strong plus
Experience integrating firmware with iOS or Android companion apps, designing BLE GATT services or device SDK interfaces, and debugging interoperability across phone models, OS versions and app background states is a strong plus
Experience taking embedded products from prototype through manufacturing and supporting devices already in customers’ hands is a strong plus
What we offer
Full-time role, in person in San Francisco 6 days a week
Base salary of $160K-$250K, depending on experience
About Pocket
Pocket is a Y Combinator W26 company building a premium hardware plus software product in the AI voice recorder space. We are obsessed with quality and speed. We are scaling very fast in the US and European markets and building a device experience that can become the category leader.