{"id":2627346,"url":"https://alion.io/job/sabi-lead-firmware-engineer","title":"Lead Firmware Engineer","company":{"id":1972262,"name":"Sabi","domain":"sabi.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/sabi-com","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":9,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"}},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["San Francisco, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":300000,"max":400000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":400000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":10,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"ESP-IDF","optional":false},{"name":"FreeRTOS","optional":false},{"name":"NuttX","optional":false},{"name":"RTOS","optional":false},{"name":"Wi-Fi","optional":false},{"name":"Edge AI","optional":true},{"name":"Quantization","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-05-07T13:28:18Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-05-07","last_verified_at":"2026-10-17T13:56:02Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":163,"trust":{"level":"stale","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale"],"days_open":162},"description":"About the Company\nWe're a small team solving one of the hardest problems in human-computer interaction: a noninvasive wearable that turns thought into text, no surgery required.\nBy pairing ultra-high-density neural sensing with our Brain Foundation Model, we decode neural signals with a fidelity once reserved for implants. Our mission is to give a billion people a direct link between mind and machine - expanding how humans think, communicate, and create.\nWe are building a next-generation AI companion wearable powered by EEG/BCI technology. Our device reads and responds to neural signals in real time, creating a deeply personal experience that adapts to each user. This is not another productivity tool or a gadget - it is a new category of technology built around human potential.\nWe are backed by strong investors, moving fast, and assembling a world-class team to bring this to market. If you thrive at the frontier of what’s possible and want to build something that genuinely changes how people interact with their own minds, we want to talk to you.\nAbout the Role\nYou will architect and own the firmware for our wearable’s distributed-compute platform: a media and connectivity MCU running camera capture, audio runtime, Wi-Fi streaming, and onboard storage; a sensor-acquisition MCU running the biopotential signal chain and BLE streaming; and an always-on MCU enforcing power management, privacy, and thermal control.\nThe firmware is the connective tissue of our wearable - every subsystem either lives inside it or talks to it. You will report to the Head of Hardware, with regular exposure to Sabi’s CEO and CTO, and partner closely with the EE, audio, camera, AI/ML, and reliability leads.\nEach subsystem lead provides their algorithms and interface specs; you provide the runtime, drivers, and orchestration that make the whole platform work. You will also work extensively with external engineering teams at our contract manufacturers - the work is outsourced; the accountability is yours.\nWhat You’ll Do\nArchitect firmware across the distributed-compute platform: RTOS choice, task structure, inter-processor protocols, OTA, and time sync.\n\nOwn the runtime that hosts every subsystem, audio DSP, camera capture pipeline, biopotential acquisition, through specified interfaces with each subsystem lead.\n\nOwn the media and connectivity MCU pipeline, camera capture, audio runtime, wake-word, Wi-Fi streaming, and onboard logging, concurrently within strict CPU and memory budgets.\n\nDrive low-power firmware on the always-on MCU: state machines for standby, assist, and continuous modes; hardware-enforced privacy; thermal throttling.\n\nBuild the multi-MCU time-sync layer that lets us correlate EEG, audio, and camera data downstream.\n\nEstablish the firmware engineering practices that scale: build and release pipelines, on-device telemetry, automated test, OTA with safe rollback, field debug tooling.\n\nPartner with the EE lead on hardware bring-up and boot path; with the reliability lead on field telemetry, error handling, and diagnostic surfaces.\n\nBring up ASICs in collaboration with the EE and silicon teams\n\nShip the product by the end of year, and build and lead the firmware team as we scale to production.\n\nWhat We’re Looking For\nMust-Haves\n10+ years of embedded firmware engineering, with at least one shipped consumer product where you owned firmware architecture end-to-end.\n\nDeep expertise across embedded RTOSes and bare-metal ARM Cortex-M, with familiarity across at least two ecosystems (e.g., Zephyr, FreeRTOS, ESP-IDF, ThreadX, NuttX).\n\nHands-on experience hosting real-time DSP runtimes alongside wireless connectivity on resource-constrained MCUs - integrating algorithms owned by other teams.\n\nStrong background in multi-radio coexistence (Wi-Fi + BLE), low-power state-machine design, and OTA with safe rollback.\n\nComfortable in the lab with JTAG/SWD, logic analyzers, and protocol sniffers - able to drive bring-up from first power-on through end-to-end functional demos.\n\nNice-to-Haves\nDeploying neural network inference to low-power MCUs or dedicated AI accelerators - model conversion, quantization, runtime integration.\n\nFamiliarity with on-device inference frameworks and edge AI runtimes.\n\nCustom AI accelerator silicon, neuromorphic compute, or in-memory-compute platforms.\n\nOn-device wake-word or always-on voice activation engines.\n\nIntegrating biopotential acquisition over standard sensor buses.\n\nIf you’re excited about this role but don’t meet every qualification, please apply. As we build, we’re hiring for complementary strengths to form a high-impact team.\nCompensation & Benefits\nCompetitive base salary\n\nMeaningful equity package\n\n401(k) with company matching\n\nHealth insurance\n\nFlexible PTO\n\nOur Hiring Timeline\nEvaluation completed within 14 days of first interview\n\nOffer letter dispatched same day as go decision, valid for 10 days\n\nStart date within 4 weeks of offer acceptance\n\nAll candidate queries responded to within 3 hours during business hours\n\nSabi is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome people of all backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5304,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":10,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Health insurance"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":[],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-15T15:32:17Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":8,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.294,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":162,"expected_fill_days":26,"reasons":["conf:1","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":400000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/sabi-lead-firmware-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/sabi-lead-firmware-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-17T16:26:00Z","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":22606,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-18T00:00:00Z"}},"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":1972262},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=1972262"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fsabi-lead-firmware-engineer"},{"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%2Fsabi-lead-firmware-engineer"},{"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%2Fsabi-lead-firmware-engineer"},{"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/sabi-lead-firmware-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fsabi-lead-firmware-engineer"}]}