OpenAI
Research
FirmwareLead,Robotics
Neural analysis suggests this role is
optimal for Lead candidates.
“Firmware Lead, Robotics at OpenAI. Skills: Firmware architecture, Embedded systems, Safety-critical systems, Robotics hardware. Bring up new hardware. Set execution pace for team”
What You'll Achieve.
Raise reliability bar for team; Get rough prototype working; Unlock next decision
Industry & Context.
Reasoning about risk; Diagnosability; Graceful degradation; Root-cause analysis; Troubleshooting
In office 5 days per week
What They're Looking For.
Must Have
Deep experience building safety-critical systems, Deep experience building high-consequence systems, Comfortable reasoning about risk, Designing for diagnosability, Designing for graceful degradation, Creating engineering practices for reliability, Unusually good at moving fast, Technical leader, Hands-on builder, Setting direction, Reviewing critical designs, Unblocking hardest problems, Writing production firmware, Extensive experience developing firmware iteratively, Led architecture and delivery for complex embedded products, Deeply fluent in low-level languages, Comfortable working close to hardware, Understand embedded systems from first principles, Instincts for defensive design, Instincts for fault containment, Instincts for validation depth, Instincts for post-deployment diagnosability, Know when to build durable system, Know when to produce fastest artifact, Communicate clearly across disciplines, Turn ambiguity into sound technical direction, Care about building trustworthy systems, Make heavy use of AI-assisted coding systems
Nice to Have
Experience with Rust in embedded environments, Experience with Embassy, Experience with async embedded Rust frameworks, Familiarity with mixed-language firmware architectures, Experience with ARM Cortex-M platforms, Experience with ARM Cortex-R platforms, Experience with RTOSes, Experience with low-power embedded designs, Experience building firmware for sensor-rich products, Experience building firmware for latency-sensitive products, Experience building firmware for tightly integrated electromechanical products
What You'll Do.
Bring up new hardware
Set execution pace for team
Lead firmware architecture
Define engineering standards
Design safety-critical mechanisms
Review safety-critical mechanisms
Build quick prototypes
Harden ideas into production systems
Partner with hardware engineers
Partner with software engineers
Partner with AI research engineers
Build bring-up processes
Build validation processes
Build release processes
Establish testing strategies
Drive root-cause analysis
Make tradeoffs across performance
Make tradeoffs across memory
Make tradeoffs across power
Make tradeoffs across schedule
Make tradeoffs across safety
Mentor firmware engineers
Shape culture of urgency
Shape culture of technical rigor
Shape culture of practical judgment
Shape culture of high-quality execution
How You'll Work.
Team & Collaboration
Cross-discipline communication; Partner with engineers
Communication Scope
Clear communication
Process & Methodology
Setting direction, Delivery
Full Job Description
About the Team We are building general-purpose robotics. In the short term, we are focused on robots to support skilled workers to build our future infrastructure. In the long term, we imagine everyone having a personal robot doing anything they need. Progress is rapid, and based on a foundation of co-design between robotics hardware and ML research. About the Role As a Firmware Lead, you will define and drive the architecture of embedded systems for next-generation hardware products. You will own foundational firmware decisions across real-time execution, device bring-up, hardware interfaces, fault handling, safety mechanisms, and production readiness. We’re looking for someone with deep experience building safety-critical or high-consequence systems, where failures can have meaningful consequences. You should be comfortable reasoning about risk, designing for diagnosability and graceful degradation, and creating engineering practices that raise the reliability bar for the entire team. You should also be unusually good at moving fast. Sometimes the right answer is a carefully reviewed architecture that will endure for years; sometimes it is getting a rough-but-useful prototype working by the end of the afternoon so the team can learn something concrete tomorrow. We value engineers who know the difference, make that call well, and can operate credibly in both modes. You will be both a technical leader and a hands-on builder: setting direction, reviewing critical designs, unblocking the hardest problems, and writing production firmware when it matters most. This role is based in San Francisco, CA. This role will be expected to be in office 5 days per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees. In this role, you will: - Rapidly bring up new hardware and set execution pace for the team. - Lead firmware architecture for embedded systems spanning boot, RTOS/runtime behavior, peripheral control, power management, communications, and field diagnostics. - Define
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