Startup Firmware Engineer Jobs in Washington (NOW HIRING)

ABOUT US

Hey! We’re Molg We’re building robotic systems that make electronics manufacturing circular. We work with hyperscalers and leading electronics manufacturers to automate how hardware is designed, manufactured, disassembled, repaired, reused, and recovered. Using robotics, computational design, and AI, our systems turn today’s e-waste into resilient, data-driven supply chains—and change how electronics are made in the first place.

IN THIS ROLE YOU WILL:

Join a talented cross-functional team of software, mechanical, electrical, and robotics engineers to develop and own the firmware that brings Molg’s robotic microfactory systems to life. As a Firmware Engineer, you will:

• Design, develop, and maintain firmware for embedded systems across Molg’s robotic platforms — including motor controllers, sensor interfaces, actuators, and custom PCBs.

• Own the full firmware development lifecycle: requirements gathering, architecture design, implementation, testing, and deployment to production hardware.

• Write robust, real-time firmware in C/C++ targeting bare-metal and RTOS-based environments (FreeRTOS, Zephyr, or similar).

• Develop and maintain drivers for communication protocols including CAN, SPI, I2C, UART, RS-485, and Ethernet to support reliable hardware integration.

• Collaborate closely with electrical engineers to bring up new hardware, validate schematics, and debug hardware/firmware interactions at the board level.

• Build and maintain hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and software-in-the-loop (SIL) test frameworks to validate firmware behavior in automated CI/CD pipelines.

• Partner with robotics and software engineers to define clear firmware/software interfaces and ensure reliable communication between embedded systems and higher-level control stacks.

• Instrument firmware for observability — logging, telemetry, and diagnostics — to support production monitoring and rapid field debugging.

• Contribute to firmware architecture decisions as Molg’s system complexity grows, balancing performance, reliability, and maintainability.

• Participate in design reviews and bring a hardware-aware perspective to cross-functional technical discussions.

You’ll have the opportunity to build alongside an incredible team, develop innovative solutions, and grow in a fast-paced environment that values autonomy and impact.

WHO YOU ARE:

• 5+ years of professional firmware or embedded systems engineering experience, with a track record of shipping firmware on real hardware.

• Expert-level proficiency in C and C++; experience with Python for tooling, test automation, or scripting is a strong plus.

• Deep experience with microcontrollers and microprocessors (STM32, ESP32, NXP, TI, or similar); comfortable working with datasheets and reference manuals as primary sources of truth.

• Hands-on experience with RTOS development — task scheduling, interrupt handling, memory management, and real-time constraints.

• Solid understanding of common embedded communication protocols (CAN, SPI, I2C, UART, Ethernet) and how to debug them with logic analyzers and oscilloscopes.

• Comfortable reading schematics and working directly with hardware — you enjoy getting to the root of hardware/software interaction issues.

• Experience writing automated firmware tests, ideally in HIL or SIL environments; familiarity with pytest, Robot Framework, or similar testing tools is a plus.

• Strong debugging skills — you can navigate a system from application layer down to the register level when needed.

• Excellent communicator with a bias toward documentation and clean, maintainable code.

• Ability to work in-person at Molg HQ in Sterling, VA.

WHO WE ARE:

We spend our days building robotic systems, developing complex assembly intelligence software, and designing the next generation of circular products for our customers. Given the importance of working hands-on with physical systems, the majority of our team is in-person collaboratively working in our industrial space in Sterling, VA, down the road from the largest data center market in the world. Our facility includes a variety of robots, CNC milling machines, 3D printers, and all the tools needed to build and test our products. It is important to us that anyone on our team that is interested in learning how to use our various pieces of equipment and machinery is taught and can gain the skills and appreciation for making physical things.

THINGS TO KNOW:

• We’re a hands on collaborative team with big ambitions, and there’s a good amount of context-switching. We expect people to be autonomous and drive their own work to completion.

• We are scrappy and looking to build a great sustainable company for years to come.

• As a growing company and startup, priorities may shift as customer or business requirements change. We strive to empower individuals with context and decision-making power to meet this need.