Contract Firmware Engineer Jobs Near Me

About AssetWatch 

AssetWatch helps industrial teams monitor the health of critical equipment through connected hardware, sensing, analytics, and condition-monitoring workflows. Our products include battery-powered sensors, edge hubs and gateways, wireless communication systems, wired networking interfaces, and factory/test infrastructure designed for demanding industrial environments. 

About the Role 

As a Firmware Engineer on the AssetWatch Hardware Team, you will develop production embedded firmware while contributing directly to electrical design, hardware bring-up, validation, and product launch. This is a hands-on, multi-functional role for an engineer who can move comfortably from code to the bench, through network and gateway diagnostics, and into manufacturing and field support. 

What You Will Do 

Firmware, Networking & Gateway Systems 

• Develop andmaintainproduction embedded firmware in C/C++ for sensors, hubs, gateways, and related connected hardware. 
• Design and debug features for device communication, scheduling, data collection, configuration, diagnostics, logging, and OTA/FOTA updates.
• Develop and troubleshoot connectivity across BLE, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and cellular paths, including TCP/IP, DNS/DHCP, TLS, MQTT/HTTP, provisioning, reconnection, signal quality, and network diagnostics.
• Support embedded Linux and/or RTOS components, peripheral interfaces, and edge services that connect device firmware and hardware to backend/cloud systems.

Electrical Design, Bring-Up & Validation 

• Contribute to schematic and PCB reviews,componentselection, power and interface design, design-for-manufacture, and design-for-test decisions. 
• Bring up and debug new hardware using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, DMMs, power profilers, debug probes, serial logs, packet captures, and other lab tools.
• Develop and execute test plans; support fixtures, regression and hardware-in-the-loop testing, failure analysis, and environmental or compliance pre-screening.

Product Delivery & Cross-Functional Ownership 

• Support the full product lifecycle from prototype and EVT/DVT/PVT through manufacturing test, production ramp, launch readiness, field deployment, and sustaining engineering.
• Own work across firmware, hardware, validation, documentation, manufacturing support, and field issue resolution while collaborating with electrical, mechanical, test, cloud, product, cybersecurity, support, and contract-manufacturing partners.
• Maintaindisciplined release practices, including Git workflows, pull requests, code reviews, repeatable builds, versioning, changelogs, release notes, and controlled deployment artifacts.
• Create clear technical specifications, interface references, test procedures, troubleshooting guides, and launch documentation that help teams move faster and reducerisk. 

What You Will Bring 

Required Qualifications 

• Must be based in the Columbus, Ohio areaand able to work from the office at least three days each week.
• Demonstratedexperience developing, debugging, releasing, and sustaining production embedded firmware in C or C++.
• Practical electrical engineering experience, including reading schematics, reviewing PCB layouts, supporting board bring-up, and troubleshooting analog, digital, power, and embedded interface issues.
• Experience with network-connected devices, edge gateways, or hubs using technologies such as BLE, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, cellular, TCP/IP, UDP, DNS, DHCP, TLS, MQTT, HTTP/HTTPS, or VPNs.
• Experience with embedded Linux and/or RTOS-based systems, device state machines, diagnostics, logging, fault handling, and common interfaces such as I2C, SPI, UART, or CAN.
• Hands-onproficiencywith firmware and hardware debug tools, including oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, DMMs, debug probes, serial logs, packet captures, or equivalent equipment. 
• Experience supporting product launches from prototype through qualification, manufacturing readiness, production ramp, and post-launch field support.
• Success in a multi-functional engineering role spanning firmware, hardware, test and validation, documentation, manufacturing support, and root-cause problem solving.
• Working knowledge of secure connected-device practices, including authentication, authorization, encrypted transport, credential handling, signed firmware, secure boot, or secure update flows.
• Experience with Git-based development, pull requests, code review, branching, release control, and clear technical documentation.
• Strong written and verbal communication, sound engineering judgment, and comfort working through ambiguous cross-disciplinary problems.
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field - or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications 

• Experience with industrial IoT, condition monitoring, vibration sensing, ruggedized electronics, or other connected products used in demanding environments.
• Experience with low-power battery devices, sleep states, current measurement, power optimization, and long-term field reliability.
• Familiarity with Nordic/nRFplatforms, BLE GATT, embedded Linux services,systemd, shell scripting, Python, Make/CMake, or device-side daemons. 
• Experience with automated test fixtures, HIL frameworks, CI/CD pipelines, build automation, semantic versioning, package management, or vulnerability tracking.
• Exposure to DFM/DFT,componentlifecycle management, contract manufacturers, end-of-line test, and regulatory pre-compliance activities such as FCC, CE, UL, ESD, or EMC. 
• Experience using AI-assisted engineering tools to improve firmware development, documentation, test coverage, or engineering productivity.

How We Work 

We value engineers who are hands-on, curious, structured, and accountable. The right candidate can move from firmware architecture to bench debugging to network diagnostics without losing sight of product reliability, security, manufacturability, or the customer experience. 

This role works closely with hardware, test, product, backend/cloud, cybersecurity, support, and manufacturing teams. Success requires clear ownership from design through validation and release, practical documentation, and a willingness to solve problems wherever firmware and hardware meet.