Embedded and Electronics Systems Engineer

Principal / Senior Embedded and Electronics Systems Engineer

Location: Bristol

Salary: £45,000 to £75,000, depending on experience. We are happy to pay for the right talent, so if you are seeking a little more, please still apply.

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced engineer to join our growing engineering team to help develop the next generation of permanently products.

This is not a pure firmware role. We are looking for someone who enjoys developing complete products and is comfortable working across embedded firmware, electronics and systems engineering.

As a growing SME of around 40 people, we do not have separate firmware, electronics, systems and product engineering departments. Our engineers work across disciplines and are involved throughout the complete product lifecycle, from initial concept through prototype, manufacture, customer deployment and ongoing product improvement.

The successful candidate will become a key technical contributor, working alongside our software, hardware, manufacturing and operations teams, while also working with external suppliers and design partners.

The Type of Person We're Looking For

The ideal candidate has spent a number of years designing and developing embedded products, rather than purely writing firmware. They enjoy solving practical engineering problems and have experience taking products from concept through prototype into manufacture.

They do not need to be the world's expert in every discipline, but they should be technically comfortable across firmware, electronics and systems engineering, and understand enough mechanical engineering to ensure products are practical to manufacture and assemble. Above all, they are someone who naturally joins the dots between disciplines, rather than working in a single specialist area.

That breadth of engineering capability matters considerably more to us than expertise in one particular processor family or software language.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop embedded firmware for microcontroller based products
• Design and debug embedded systems using modern development tools
• Read, review and contribute to electronic schematics and PCB designs
• Investigate hardware and firmware issues using laboratory test equipment
• Capture engineering requirements and contribute to system architecture
• Develop prototypes and support product integration
• Work with external design partners and manufacturers
• Support products through manufacture, deployment and continuous improvement
• Participate in design reviews, verification and validation activities
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to engineering best practice

What We're Looking For

Firmware

You should have solid commercial experience developing embedded firmware, with a good understanding of Embedded C/C++, real time operating systems (FreeRTOS or similar), watchdog timers, interrupt driven software, state machines, low power embedded design, memory constraints, performance optimisation, bootloaders, and communication protocols such as SPI, I²C, UART, CAN and RS485.

More important than any individual technology is understanding why it is used, and being capable of making sensible engineering decisions rather than simply implementing code. You should be comfortable working across different MCU families rather than tied to one particular device.

Electronics

This is an area where many of the candidates we have seen so far have been lacking, so it is worth being clear about what we mean. We are not looking for a PCB layout specialist. We are looking for someone who is comfortable working with electronics: able to read schematics confidently, produce simple schematics where required, select suitable components, review PCB designs produced internally or by third party suppliers, bring up new hardware, debug board level problems, and use oscilloscopes, logic analysers, multimeters and other laboratory equipment with confidence.

You do not necessarily need to be producing complex multi layer PCB layouts yourself, but you should be capable of reviewing designs, asking the right engineering questions, and working alongside external PCB designers and manufacturers.

This is probably the most important capability of all. We need someone who understands how products are engineered, not just how software is written. That means being comfortable capturing requirements, turning customer needs into technical solutions, producing engineering specifications, working with internal stakeholders and external suppliers, participating in design reviews, understanding technical risk, making engineering trade offs, and supporting verification and validation.

Mechanical Awareness

We are not recruiting a mechanical engineer, but we do need someone who understands that products have to fit together physically: designing electronics that fit inside an enclosure, appreciating battery replacement and serviceability, understanding manufacturing constraints, working alongside mechanical engineers, and using or understanding 3D printed prototypes. Anyone who has taken a product from concept to manufacture will normally already have this awareness.

Product Development

You should have experience across the complete engineering lifecycle, including concept development, requirements capture, prototype development, product integration, verification and validation, manufacturing support, customer support and continuous product improvement.

Leadership

• Commercial experience developing embedded products
• Strong Embedded C/C++ development experience
• Good understanding of microcontroller based systems
• Experience with RTOS, watchdogs, interrupts and state machine design
• Good understanding of communication protocols such as SPI, I²C and UART
• Ability to read and understand electronic schematics
• Experience debugging both hardware and firmware
• Practical experience using oscilloscopes, logic analysers and other electronic test equipment
• Structured approach to engineering problem solving
• Ability to work across multiple engineering disciplines
• Good communication skills and a collaborative approach
• STM32 or ARM Cortex-M devices
• Low power and battery powered products
• Product verification and validation
• Requirements capture and systems engineering
• Design for Manufacture (DFM) and Design for Test (DFT)
• Python or other engineering scripting tools
• Altium or similar ECAD tools
• ATEX / IECEx or industrial product compliance

The Sort of Companies We'd Expect Candidates to Come From

We are more interested in engineers who have developed physical products than software only companies. Examples might include industrial electronics, instrumentation, medical devices, aerospace, defence, automotive electronics, robotics, industrial automation, scientific instrumentation, communications equipment, and test and measurement.

For the same reason, this role is unlikely to suit candidates whose experience is almost entirely firmware only, hardware in the loop testing, validation engineering, software engineering with limited electronics exposure, or engineers who have never worked with real hardware. These may well be excellent software engineers, but they are unlikely to be the right fit for this particular role.

Personal Attributes

• Enjoys building real products rather than simply writing software
• Naturally curious and enjoys learning new technologies
• Takes ownership of technical problems
• Practical, hands on and enjoys working in the laboratory
• Can balance engineering quality with commercial priorities
• Works well in a collaborative, multidisciplinary team
• Happy working within a fast moving SME where no two days are the same

Why Join Us?

You will work on industrial sensing products deployed worldwide, solving real engineering challenges across embedded electronics, firmware, industrial communications and product development. Unlike larger organisations, you will have visibility across the complete engineering lifecycle, from concept and prototype through manufacture, customer deployment and continuous product improvement, giving broad technical experience and significant opportunities for professional growth.

• Pension: 5% company contribution with 3%+ employee contribution (following probation)
• Private healthcare with Vitality
• Flexible working arrangements
• Life insurance
• Cycle to work scheme
• 25 days holiday plus your birthday off and a volunteering day
• Air conditioning in the summer

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