Engineering Manager, Embedded Software

Brain Corp•San Diego, CA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Brain Corp is a San Diego, California, USA-based AI company creating transformative core technology for the robotics industry. Our purpose is to create autonomous technology that helps the real world work better. Brain's robotic and AI solutions help retailers ensure that the right product is on the right shelf at the right price, in a clean environment. Through the BrainOS® Robotics Platform, which powers the largest global fleet of the Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) in operation in commercial public spaces, Brain Corp delivers insightful and efficient automated solutions in both commercial floor cleaning and inventory management, empowering organizations and their employees to achieve more. Brain Corp currently powers more than 30,000 AMRs, representing the largest fleet of its kind in the world. Brain Corp is funded by the SoftBank Vision Fund, Clearbridge, and Qualcomm Ventures. Position Overview: The Manager of Embedded Software leads the Firmware team, directing technical strategy and ensuring the execution of key projects that power the company’s robotic platforms. This role is responsible for aligning the team’s efforts with broader strategic goals, making critical prioritization tradeoffs, and facilitating seamless cross-functional collaboration. This role is pivotal in developing the engineering team, fostering a high-performance culture, and translating complex business objectives into actionable technical roadmaps.

Requirements

BS or MS in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering
5+ years of professional experience in embedded software development, including 2-3 years in a formal people management, or managing cross-disciplinary teams
Proven track record in robotics, autonomous vehicles, or complex IoT products
Strong experience with Agile methodologies and the full Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
Ability to understand market needs and translate them into engineering priorities
Ability to influence architectural standards and engineering best practices across the organization, ensuring long-term scalability and reliability for multiple robotic platforms
Strong understanding of ARM Cortex microcontrollers, Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS), and hardware interfaces (CAN, I2C, SPI, Ethernet)
Experience in system architecture, design patterns, and best practices in embedded software
Exceptional communication skills for presenting technical strategies to non-technical stakeholders and negotiating with OEMs and vendors
Strong ability to establish best practices for Generative AI integration within embedded systems; expert at driving the adoption of AI-augmented tools to optimize firmware design, streamline debugging, and systematically reduce technical debt across the development lifecycle
Familiarity with Linux environments, build systems (Makefile and/or CMake), and test automation frameworks (pytest)
Familiarity with release management and versioning

Nice To Haves

MS in computer science, software engineering or a related field
Understanding of CI/CD pipelines and related tools (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD)
Experience with Github, JIRA, and Jenkins tools for source control, tracking, and testing.

Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Development: Mentor and manage a team of firmware engineers, establishing best practices for software development while fostering a culture of technical excellence, ownership and accountability
Drive high-performance results by conducting regular mentoring and performance reviews to support long-term career growth within the team
Facilitate technical discussions and encourage a collaborative environment to reach higher performance solutions and meet strict delivery deadlines
Strategic Operations & Project Management Direct project management for all firmware programs, ensuring tasks are prioritized, resources are effectively allocated and projects remain on track
Navigate high-level tradeoffs between competing business priorities to ensure project deadlines are met without compromising quality
Lead high-level interactions with hardware vendors and external partners to translate business needs into technical specifications and drive feature investigations
Partner cross-functionally with Hardware, Product, Autonomy, and Cloud teams to align on feature requirements, integration schedules, and product delivery
Technical Excellence & Architecture Provide architectural guidance for complex firmware systems (RTOS and Embedded Linux) to ensure reliability and scalability across multiple robot modalities
Optimize development velocity by driving improvements in software development processes, CI/CD pipelines, and release management
Oversee the triage and resolution of critical production and customer issues, utilizing data analytics to implement long-term architectural fixes
Directly contribute to development activities to achieve commitments as required
Perform other duties and projects as assigned

Benefits

In addition to base pay, our competitive total rewards package consists of:
A discretionary annual target bonus
Stock options
401(k) plan with match (no waiting period and immediate vesting)
Comprehensive suite of insurance benefits for employees (and their families) to include a variety of medical plan options (including an HSA with employer contribution), dental, vision, life and disability insurance, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Legal/Identity support plans, pet insurance.
Access to Flexible Spending Accounts (Medical and Dependent Care)
Generous paid time off including flexible vacation, Paid Sick Leave, time off for volunteering in the community, 10 paid company holidays, and a winter company shutdown
Additional Perks include:
Daily on-site lunch available in the San Diego office
On-campus gym including pool and tennis courts in the San Diego office
Opportunities to connect with colleagues including monthly game nights, hikes, wellness challenges, and community events
Internal continuous learning events
Opportunities to share your own interests and hobbies with the Company