Embedded Software Engineering, Linux
Pila Energy
About us
Pila Energy is a seed-stage startup building plug-and-play home battery systems that make reliable power accessible without complex installation or costly electrical upgrades. Our mission is to amplify self-sufficiency, safety, and comfort in homes by starting with the most essential element: reliable power.
We design elegant, intuitive hardware and software that bring energy resilience and management to renters and homeowners alike. Our small, high-impact team brings deep experience building leading energy and IoT products at companies including SPAN, Tesla, Apple, Lightship, and Amazon Alexa.
The Role
We’re looking for an exceptional hands-on Embedded Software Engineer to join our growing team. Our core team is primarily based in San Francisco. You’ll architect, build, and scale firmware and embedded software for Pila’s distributed nanogrid—real devices in real homes. From low-level drivers and real-time controls to mesh networking, OTA, security, and manufacturing test, you’ll own features end-to-end and see your work ship.
You’ll collaborate with our existing software, electrical, mechanical, and product teammates to design, prototype, test, break, redesign, retest, and scale software that’s powerful, reliable, and delightful.
Key Responsibilities
Own embedded software end-to-end: architecture, implementation, board bring-up, diagnostics, test, and manufacturing/field deployment.
Integrate and bring up ASICs and peripheral components: including power metering ICs, internal sensors and actuators, USB-PD controllers, and MIPI-DSI display drivers—across SPI/I²C/UART and other device interfaces.
Build robust firmware on MCU/RTOS platforms (e.g., ARM Cortex-M + FreeRTOS/Zephyr): drivers, comms stacks, control loops, power management, bootloaders, secure OTA.
Develop Linux-side services on our edge compute where needed (process supervision, telemetry, update orchestration, containerized services).
Design and implement robust embedded state machines and control systems for on-device energy management, fault handling, and coordinated system behavior across the nanogrid.
Implement resilient communications: CAN (BMS/EMS), RS-485/Modbus, Matter, Thread/OpenThread, BLE, Wi-Fi, and external device messaging (MQTT/HTTP/Protobuf).
Deliver quality and safety: unit/integration tests, HIL rigs, CI/CD for firmware, fault handling, watchdogs, brownout recovery, secure boot, SBOMs.
Support product compliance: design and validation aligned with safety standards and regulatory requirements; partner on certification test plans.
Manufacturing enablement: define/own end-of-line programming, calibration, and test utilities; create field diagnostics and logging.
Cross-functional collaboration: work closely with EE for schematics/PCB reviews and with product/design for app/API interfaces and UX-critical behaviors.
Documentation: specs, APIs, test procedures, and troubleshooting guides to support certification, production, and support teams.
Qualifications
BS/MS in Computer/Electrical Engineering or related field (or equivalent experience).
3–7 years building production embedded systems for energy, consumer devices, EVs, or IoT.
Mastery of C/C++ for embedded targets; strong proficiency with RTOS (FreeRTOS or Zephyr).
Proven board bring-up and debug with JTAG/SWD, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers.
Experience with bootloaders, secure OTA, and resilient update strategies.
Solid grasp of networking and device comms: CAN, RS-485/Modbus, SPI, I²C, UART, BLE, Wi-Fi.
Comfort with Linux on embedded platforms (systemd, shell/Python tooling) and build systems.
Test-driven mindset: unit tests, HIL, CI, structured logging/telemetry.
Excellent problem solving, attention to detail, and ability to work independently and collaboratively.
Bonus Qualifications
Zephyr RTOS, ESP-IDF, or Yocto experience.
Rust for embedded or Linux services.
Matter/CHIP, OpenThread certification flows.
Energy/power domain familiarity: battery BMS, metering, power electronics control, DER/VPP/DR protocols (e.g., OpenADR).
Safety and functional safety exposure (UL/IEC Class B concepts, IEC 60730/61508 practices).
Security for embedded systems: secure boot, key management, firmware signing, SBOMs.
High-volume manufacturing experience and EOL test design.
Great talent comes from everywhere. If you’re passionate about embedded systems, sustainability, and making an impact, we encourage you to apply—even if you don’t meet every single requirement.
What We Offer
Competitive salary and equity compensation
Medical, dental, and vision health insurance
401(k) retirement savings
Opportunities for learning, ownership, and career growth
Flexible work arrangements in San Francisco or Denver
