--- title: 'Senior Embedded Software Engineer at Orbit Neuro Co.' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-embedded-software-engineer-orbit-neuro-co-san-francisco-fk9kypc4mkc9' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-11-11' --- # Senior Embedded Software Engineer at Orbit Neuro Co. - **Company:** Orbit Neuro Co. - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Compensation:** $185k–$215k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-11-09 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-11 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/orbit/dab0a5ba-4f6a-4344-bf4a-a717f053ddc3 ## Job description ## About Orbit We're a team of engineers, neuroscientists, and designers working to deepen our understanding of the human brain. We're building a wearable brain-computer interface and models that decode emotion, with the goal of putting human experience and wellbeing at the center of technology. Our work spans neural sensors, embedded systems, scientific software, and AI. We're venture funded, with backing from founders and executives across AI, neurotechnology, consumer hardware, and pharmaceuticals, including Google, Hugging Face, Apple, Stability, Microsoft, and Dropbox. ## About the role Help turn a sophisticated optical sensing system into a high-performance wearable for understanding the brain. You'll shape how our wearable acquires, processes, and delivers neural measurements, working closely with hardware and signal-processing engineers. Our platform combines C++23, embedded Linux built with the Yocto Project, and modern sensing hardware, with gRPC and Protocol Buffers (Protobuf) connecting acquisition software to the wider system. We tackle deep design challenges in timing, concurrency, memory, and throughput. The embedded firmware you design will directly empower individuals with insights into their own brain. You will - Develop the C++ software that controls acquisition, configures peripherals, runs self-tests, and manages recording sessions. - Design and optimize the path from raw sensor frames through on-device signal processing to a timestamped network stream. - Evolve our Yocto-based Linux platform, including application integration, system configuration, and reproducible builds. - Solve timing, concurrency, memory, and throughput challenges across a high-performance wearable. - Collaborate with hardware and FPGA engineers to bring new sensing capabilities to life. - Build automated tests, performance measurements, and development tools that make the acquisition system reliable and scalable. You are - An engineer with a degree in computer science, electrical engineering, computer engineering, or a related field, and at least five years of relevant professional experience. - Experienced in modern C++ for embedded systems, including resource management, concurrency, and debugging. - Comfortable developing on embedded Linux, with practical experience using Yocto. - Familiar with networked services or messaging protocols such as gRPC, MQTT, DDS, or ZeroMQ, and approaches to moving structured data between systems. - Comfortable reasoning across software and hardware boundaries and using measurements to explore design choices. - Someone who enjoys sharing discoveries, discussing tradeoffs, and learning alongside engineers from other disciplines. You might also - Have experience with Verilog, SystemVerilog, or VHDL and FPGA-based acquisition. - Know ARM-based systems, AMD/Xilinx Zynq platforms, or AMD's Embedded Development Framework (EDF), with experience in board support packages (BSPs), device trees, or U-Boot. - Have worked on timing, clock synchronization, digital signal processing (DSP), or high-throughput data acquisition (DAQ), or bring related real-time operating system (RTOS) experience with FreeRTOS or Zephyr. - Have developed Linux kernel device drivers or worked with DMA, SPI, I2C, or other hardware interfaces. - Bring experience with scientific instruments, optical sensing, robotics, or other precision measurement systems. - Have used CMake, GoogleTest, Catch2, or hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing to build confidence in embedded software. - Bring additional embedded Linux experience with Buildroot, OpenEmbedded, cross-compilation, or debugging with GDB and JTAG. We're looking for a strong foundation and the ability to grow. You don't need experience with every technology we use, and the "You might also" section is entirely optional. If the core work feels like a good match but some details are new to you, we'd like to hear from you. Prior neuroscience or brain-computer interface experience isn't expected. ## How we work We're a small, high-performance team with quick feedback loops and room to experiment. You'll work directly with people across engineering, neuroscience, and design, understand why your work matters, and have real influence over how we build. We work with modern software and hardware stacks, including C++23, modern Python, and a Linux-forward development environment. We use principled engineering and thoughtful design to explore, build and test, aided by modern agentic workflows. You'll have room to shape both the product and the way we create it. ## About Orbit Neuro Co. ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Orbit Neuro builds a non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) that decodes emotions to make mental health as transparent and actionable as physical health. - **Entity Type**: Private (venture-backed; pre-seed/seed stage) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States - **Founded**: 2024 - **Founders**: Akshat Sharma (CEO) and Dipanshu Gandhi (Co-Founder & CTO) ## Core Business - **Industry**: Neurotechnology / Mental Health / Healthcare IT - **Target Customers**: B2C (individuals seeking mental wellness) and B2B (clinics, outpatient services, employers) - **Mission**: To create an "interface to emotion" – a technology that makes mental health as trackable and actionable as physical health, using non-invasive neurotech. ## Products & Services - **Emotion‑Decoding BCI**: A non‑invasive brain‑computer interface that reads neural signals to identify emotional states. The product is described as a “fitness device for your brain” and aims to provide real‑time mental health insights. (Type: Hardware + SaaS / mobile app) - **Foundation Model for Emotion**: A proprietary foundation model trained on neural data to decode and predict emotional states, enabling empathetic technology. (Type: Software / AI Model) ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed - **Key Metric**: Total funding raised **$401K** (as of early 2026, per PitchBook) - **Notable Investors / Partners**: One Mind Accelerator (lead), University of Cambridge, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Entrepreneurs First, Founders at the University of Cambridge - **Growth Signals**: - Headcount grew **233% YoY** to 8 employees (as of mid‑2026) - Hired **Jeff C. Jensen** (former CTO at Blackrock Neurotech, VP Engineering at Creator) as Founding Engineer in September 2025 - LinkedIn followers increased **222.9% year‑over‑year** to ~1,056 - Active job postings for key technical roles (Founding ML Engineer, Expression of Interest) - Presence in both San Francisco and United Kingdom ## Competitive Advantages - **Non‑invasive BCI**: Avoids the complexity and regulatory hurdles of implanted devices while still offering neural‑level insight. - **Emotion‑Decoding Foundation Model**: Proprietary AI trained on neural data gives a unique data advantage and potential for a platform play. - **Top‑talent pedigree**: Team includes alumni from Blackrock Neurotech, University of Cambridge, and former founders from multiple startups. - **Mission‑driven focus**: Addresses the massive unmet need for objective, data‑driven mental health tools. ## Strategic Focus - **Product development**: Building and refining the BCI hardware and the emotion‑decoding foundation model. - **Talent acquisition**: Actively hiring founding engineers (ML, product design) to accelerate product iteration. - **Clinical validation**: Likely pursuing partnerships with clinics and research institutions (given investor ties to Cambridge and One Mind Accelerator). - **Market entry**: Initially targeting early adopters in mental health and wellness, with potential expansion into employer wellness and telemedicine platforms. ## Why Work Here - **Mission‑driven**: Directly work on a product that could reshape how people understand and manage their mental health. - **High impact, lean team**: Join as a founding‑level contributor in an 8‑person startup (currently only ~3 in technical roles) – your work directly shapes the product. - **Top‑tier peers**: Collaborate with veterans from Blackrock Neurotech, Cambridge, and other leading neurotech players. - **Work environment**: Based in San Francisco with a presence in the UK; likely a hybrid or remote‑friendly setup for engineering roles. - **Growth opportunity**: 233% headcount growth and fresh funding signal strong momentum; early employees can earn significant equity in a fast‑growing startup. ## Sources 1. [orbitneuro.com](https://orbitneuro.com/) 2. [Ashby Careers Page](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/orbit) 3. [LinkedIn - Orbit Neuro](https://www.linkedin.com/company/orbit-neuro) 4. [BizProfile - California Secretary of State Filing](https://www.bizprofile.net/ca/sacramento/orbit-neuro-co) 5. [PitchBook Profile](https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/590935-42) ## Other roles at Orbit Neuro Co. - [Senior Software Engineer - Generalist](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-generalist-orbit-neuro-co-san-francisco-stg9247k7k5v) — San Francisco, CA - [Senior IoT Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-iot-software-engineer-orbit-neuro-co-san-francisco-z6691n1s0rkq) — San Francisco, CA - [Senior Desktop Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-desktop-software-engineer-orbit-neuro-co-san-francisco-fajaf4b5p0e8) — San Francisco, CA - [Senior Cloud & Backend Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-cloud-backend-software-engineer-orbit-neuro-co-san-francisco-0r5t9mt5388f) — San Francisco, CA - [Expression of Interest](https://feeny.ai/job/expression-of-interest-orbit-neuro-co-san-francisco-17j9k4sasbgf) — San Francisco, CA - [Founding Machine Learning Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-machine-learning-engineer-orbit-neuro-co-san-francisco-75vy95xjx2mw) — San Francisco, CA - [Senior Embedded Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-embedded-software-engineer-q-ctrl-sydney-h7dx5dyg08yd) — Sydney, Australia - [Senior Embedded Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-embedded-software-engineer-hypersonica-munich-p2anj4yjdrgz) — Munich, Germany - [Senior Embedded Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-embedded-software-engineer-varda-space-industries-el-segundo-jf1f3dprf8d3) — El Segundo, CA - [Senior Embedded Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-embedded-software-engineer-treeswift-inc-new-york-409q5cxt84aq) — New York, NY