{"id":2764190,"url":"https://alion.io/job/watney-staff-firmware-engineer","title":"Staff Firmware Engineer","company":{"id":3812884,"name":"Watney","domain":"watney.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/watney-2","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":6,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-19T05:45:15Z"}},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":"staff","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 Francisco, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":186000,"max_usd":336000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":492},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Rust","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-17T00:55:08Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-17","last_verified_at":"2026-10-19T20:22:28Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":2,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":2},"description":"Our Mission\nExpand human ambition in the physical world.\nCritical infrastructure is constrained by labor shortages, hazardous working conditions, and operational complexity. Watney builds and deploys autonomous robotic systems that increase the speed and capacity of buildout, starting with data centers.\nAbout the Role\nAt Watney, firmware engineers write the firmware for our robots’ mainboards and actuators, and bring up new boards with our manufacturing partners. They work with our mechanical, electrical, and ML teams as new sensors and embodiments arrive.\nHow far firmware can take a robot on its own is still an open question: which faults a board can recover from without a person, and how one design carries across new boards and embodiments.\nThe firmware you write sets how reliable and safe every robot is. The architecture bets you make carry into every robot we build after this one.\nWhat You’ll Do\nLead board bring-up with our manufacturing partners, from specification discovery through first boot.\n\nWrite the drivers and hardware abstraction layers that run on our microcontrollers and actuators.\n\nBuild and run automated hardware-in-the-loop tests across embodiments.\n\nBuild the common firmware base for mainboards and actuators, in Rust and C.\n\nWork with the ML and mechanical teams to prototype and validate new sensors.\n\nYou May Be a Good Fit If You:\nHave shipped production firmware to millions of devices.\n\nHave written production firmware in Rust, C, or both.\n\nHave debugged communication buses on real hardware.\n\nHave built or operated hardware-in-the-loop test infrastructure.\n\nHave worked with contract manufacturers or OEMs to turn ambiguous requirements into a board layout.\n\nHave worked with electromechanical systems or cameras and optics, electrically, mechanically, or in software.\n\nHave working knowledge of electrical engineering and either field-oriented control or RF.\n\nWe’re committed to building a diverse, inclusive team. At Watney Robotics, we welcome people of all backgrounds and identities, and we make hiring decisions based on skills, experience, and potential. If you’re passionate about robotics but don’t meet every requirement, we still encourage you to apply!\nCurious to learn more?\nFollow us here onX andLinkedIn","description_format":"text","description_chars":2264,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Industrial Robotics","Construction Robotics"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-17T03:23:03Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":90,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.903,"p_room":1,"age_days":2,"expected_fill_days":36,"reasons":["conf:1","velocity","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-19T05:45:15Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/watney-staff-firmware-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/watney-staff-firmware-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-19T23:02:32Z","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":1966,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-20T00:00:00Z"}},"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":3812884},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=3812884"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fwatney-staff-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%2Fwatney-staff-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%2Fwatney-staff-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/watney-staff-firmware-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fwatney-staff-firmware-engineer"}]}