Mill

Firmware Engineering Intern, Winter 2026 at Mill (San Bruno, CA)

Mill· San Bruno, CA·

Job description

Mill is a waste prevention technology company reimagining what it means to eliminate waste, starting with food. We build smart systems and infrastructure for homes, businesses, and municipalities that transform food scraps from landfill-bound waste into valuable resources, including chicken feed. Tens of thousands of Mill’s residential food recyclers are already helping households divert millions of pounds of food scraps every year, paving the way for our upcoming launch of Mill Commercial—the industry’s first end-to-end solution for managing, understanding, and preventing food waste in commercial environments (e.g. grocery, restaurants, food services). At Mill, we are passionate about building easy-to-use, beautifully designed technologies that keep food in the food system and out of landfills.

As a Firmware Engineering intern at Mill, you’ll be working with a tight-knit, fast-paced team on a novel consumer product. Your day-to-day will include hands-on work with hardware components and lab equipment as well as production code. Since we’re a small team, your work and learning will span Development, Testing, and Debug as we push towards launch. This internship is for someone who wants to learn and be creatively challenged.

Responsibilities

  • Work closely with the Mill cross functional team on the embedded software and hardware validation of new products.
  • Writing, editing and drafting new embedded code to run on our systems and exploring new ways to control our system.
  • Hands-on support debugging systems during commissioning and supporting testing activities by working with electrical engineers, and product designers to troubleshoot and drive system level performance.
  • Implementing prototype drivers and testing on hardware systems.

Minimum Qualifications

  • BS, MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering (obtained).
  • Ability to work 5 days a week in office at our San Bruno location
  • Experience writing and testing embedded C to control electromechanical components and read sensors
  • Strong analytical and communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience with embedded linux systems: yocto preferred
  • Experience debugging physical hardware using oscilloscopes, network/logic analyzers
  • Past experience developing for loadcells, DC motors, PID controllers, DC fans
  • Experience with python scripting preferred.
  • Experience working with CI/CD pipelines for production code.

The estimated base hourly range for this position is $35 to $45, which does not include the value of benefits or a potential equity grant. A wide range of factors are considered in making compensation decisions, including but not limited to skill sets, market conditions, experience and training, licensure and certifications, and business and organizational needs. Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor an employment visa for this role

Why work at Mill

  • Mission-Driven: Employees are directly working on climate change, keeping food out of landfills.
  • Hybrid Work: Hybrid work environment (typical time on-site: 2 days a week) builtin.com.
  • Culture: Described as a mix of hardware, software, and AI engineering with a startup feel. Offers company equity, 401(K), generous parental leave, free snacks, and company-sponsored family events builtin.com.
  • Engineering Focus: Heavy investment in hardware engineering (San Bruno) and software/AI (Computer Vision). Roles include Hardware Test Engineer, Senior Firmware Engineer, AI Engineer (Computer Vision), and Product Design Engineer greenhouse.io.
  • Employee Rating: 3.4/5.0 on LinkedIn (23 reviews), with Culture rated 3.7 and Compensation rated 3.6 linkedin.com.

Application questions