Afternoon Controls Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Join Amazon's Frontier AI & Robotics team and help shape the future of intelligent robotic systems from the inside out. As a Member of Technical Staff - Firmware Engineer, Electronics, you will develop the low-level firmware that brings our in-house robotic actuators to life-writing the embedded code that bridges sophisticated hardware and the high-level AI control systems that power our next-generation robots. Your work will directly enable our robots to see, reason, and act in real-world warehouse environments, making you a critical contributor to one of the most ambitious robotics programs in the world.
Key job responsibilities
• Develop, test, and optimize embedded firmware for custom in-house robotic actuators, including motor control algorithms (FOC, commutation, current/torque/speed/position loops) running on microcontrollers and DSPs
• Design and implement real-time firmware for actuator state estimation, fault detection, and protection logic, ensuring robust and safe operation across all actuator variants deployed in FAR's robotic systems
• Collaborate with electronics engineers and motor design engineers to define firmware requirements, hardware interfaces (SPI, I2C, CAN, EtherCAT, RS-485), and actuator bring-up procedures for new hardware revisions
• Develop and maintain firmware for field-oriented control (FOC) and sensored/sensorless motor commutation, including tuning current regulators, velocity controllers, and position controllers for high-performance robots
• Build and maintain firmware test frameworks and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test environments to validate firmware behavior across actuator operating conditions, edge cases, and failure modes
• Partner with controls engineers and AI researchers to ensure firmware-level interfaces support high-bandwidth, low-latency communication required by whole-body control and motion planning algorithms
• Contribute to actuator firmware architecture decisions, define software-hardware interface standards, and maintain firmware documentation and version control practices to enable scalable multi-actuator development
• Support rapid hardware bring-up and debugging of new actuator prototypes, leveraging oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and custom diagnostic tools to characterize and validate firmware behavior on novel hardware
A day in the life
Your day is rooted in the intersection of hardware and software where you'll be wiring firmware from scratch to control custom motors. You might start your morning reviewing firmware behavior logs from the previous night's actuator characterization runs, then spend time working alongside motor design and electronics engineers to debug a torque ripple issue in the motor control loop. In the afternoon, you could be writing and validating embedded firmware for a new actuator variant, tuning (field-oriented control) FOC algorithms, and collaborating with the controls team to ensure firmware interfaces align with high-level motion planning requirements.
Beyond the bench, you'll participate in architecture reviews with hardware and software engineers, contribute to code reviews, and document firmware specifications that enable smooth hardware handoffs. You'll be working on actuator variants-each with unique power, torque, and speed requirements-and you'll be the firmware voice in cross-functional design discussions that shape how our actuators are built and controlled. The pace is fast, the problems are novel, and the impact is direct.
About the team
Frontier AI & Robotics (FAR) is the team at Amazon building the next generation of embodied intelligence. FAR drives the development and implementation of advanced AI models within Amazon's operations that enable robots to see, reason, and act on the world around them, supporting a number of different warehouse automation tasks.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience in developing functional specifications, design verification plans and functional test procedures
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Embedded Systems, or a related technical field
- 5+ years of professional embedded firmware development experience, with demonstrated expertise in real-time control systems for electromechanical or power electronics hardware
- Proficiency in C and/or C++ for embedded/real-time systems, with experience writing firmware for microcontrollers or DSPs in resource-constrained environments
- Hands-on experience developing motor control firmware, including field-oriented control (FOC), BLDC or PMSM motor commutation, and closed-loop current, speed, or position control
- Experience with hardware communication protocols relevant to actuator systems (CAN, SPI, I2C, UART, EtherCAT, or similar) and interfacing firmware with motor drivers, encoders, and analog sensors
- Demonstrated ability to debug firmware and hardware issues using tools such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and in-circuit debuggers in a hands-on lab environment
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience developing actuator firmware for robotic systems, collaborative robots, or high-performance motion control platforms
- Familiarity with proprioceptive sensing and torque estimation techniques in robots, including integration of force/torque sensors or current-based torque estimation in firmware
- Experience with EtherCAT or other real-time industrial fieldbus protocols for multi-axis robotic drive coordination
- Knowledge of functional safety standards (ISO 26262, IEC 61508) as applied to motor drive firmware and embedded safety monitoring logic
- Experience working in cross-functional hardware-software teams in fast-paced robotics, aerospace, or advanced electromechanical systems environments
- Familiarity with hardware bring-up workflows and DFT (design for test) practices for custom motor drive electronics
Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.
Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company's reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
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Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets. The base pay for this position ranges from $150,000/year in our lowest geographic market up to $300,000/year in our highest geographic market. Pay is based on a number of factors, including market location, and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Amazon is a total compensation company. Dependent on the position offered, equity, sign-on payments, and other forms of compensation may be provided as part of a total compensation package, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits. For more information, please visit https://www.aboutamazon.com/workplace/employee-benefits. Applicants should apply via our internal or external career site.