--- title: 'Software Engineer - Embedded Systems at Specter' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-embedded-systems-specter-san-francisco-vnd0b29m1p6w' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-14' --- # Software Engineer - Embedded Systems at Specter - **Company:** Specter - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-01-23 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-14 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/specter/9c1e9fed-1ab4-487a-b211-96e8ec6fe6c5 ## Job description Company Background Specter's mission is to help automate the physical world. Today, we build video sensors with state-of-the-art AI agents that answer any question, anywhere in their environments. Our systems can automatically detect and reason about any physical activity captured on camera, from security incidents (e.g. perimeter intrusion, theft, LPR), to safety monitoring (e.g. PPE detection, injured people), to operational efficiency (e.g. material tracking, congestion monitoring). We offer both long range wireless (1km range) and wired sensor variants to suit any deployment. Our co-founders Xerxes and Philip are passionate about empowering our partners in the fast approaching world of physical AI and robotics. We are a small, fast growing team who hail from Anduril, Tesla, Uber, and the U.S. Special Forces. ## The Role Specter is hiring an Embedded Software Engineer to own the full on-device software stack for our distributed wireless mesh sensor nodes, including integration with RF modules, cameras, and multi-modal sensors. Responsibilities: - Designing, implementing, and maintaining performant, reliable firmware and software for Specter’s current and future edge devices across a wide range of embedded platforms (embedded Linux on SoCs, RTOS, bare-metal on microcontrollers). - Owning the integration of RF modules, cameras, and multi-modal sensors (e.g., environmental, motion, acoustic) into the embedded software stack, including driver development, data pipelines, and hardware enablement. - Performing board bring-up, reading datasheets/schematics, and debugging complex hardware/software interactions using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, JTAG/SWD, and other diagnostic tools. - Collaborating closely with Hardware Engineering (EE, RF, ME), Product Engineering, and backend software teams to co-design interfaces, support new hardware platforms, and enable rapid prototyping and iteration from concept to production deployment. - Building and maintaining reusable build, test, and deployment infrastructure for embedded targets—including CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and over-the-air (OTA) update mechanisms—to accelerate development of new products and features. - Debugging and optimizing system performance in real-world deployments, focusing on power consumption, memory footprint, reliability, and edge-case fault tolerance. - Contributing to foundational platform components such as bootloaders, secure boot implementation, and modular driver frameworks to support fast development of next-generation devices. Qualifications: - Proficiency in writing software for embedded targets using C, C++, Rust, or similar languages. - Experience with embedded Linux on System-on-Chips (SoCs), real-time operating systems (RTOS), or bare-metal programming for microcontrollers. - Hands-on experience with kernel driver development (Linux) and/or low-level peripheral drivers on microcontrollers, integrating both on-chip and external hardware peripherals. - Familiarity with a variety of communication protocols and interfaces, including low-level serial buses (e.g., SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, RS485), networking standards (e.g., Ethernet—including 10BASE-T1S, 802.11), and high-speed peripheral interfaces (e.g., MIPI CSI-2, SDIO, PCIe). - Comfortable debugging hardware using basic lab equipment including logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, etc ## Nice to Have - Embedded Security (e.g., OTA update infrastructure, secure boot mechanisms, hardware security modules like TPM or secure elements). - Power Electronics (e.g., software control of motors, DC-DC converters, or battery management systems in embedded environments). - Connectivity (e.g., Bluetooth, Cellular, Wi-Fi, CAN, Ethernet; including integrations like OpenWRT for wireless routing, 10Base-T1S for single-pair Ethernet, or cellular modem drivers). - Camera Integration (e.g., integrating image sensors or MIPI CSI-2 devices into embedded systems, including FPGA/DSP-based processing for video pipelines or computer vision applications). - Operating Systems & Build Infrastructure (e.g., Nix/NixOS–based systems, reproducible builds, declarative system configuration, cross-compilation, and deployment pipelines for embedded Linux). ## About Specter ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Specter builds and deploys long-range wireless sensing networks with AI-powered real-time alerts and semantic search, creating the perception layer for the physical world. - **Entity Type**: Private (funding stage not publicly disclosed) - **Headquarters**: Not publicly available (likely US based on website language and job postings) - **Founded**: Not publicly available - **Founders**: Not publicly available ## Core Business - Primary industries: Physical security, critical infrastructure monitoring, industrial IoT, real-time situational awareness - Target customers: Enterprise and government – including energy companies, data centers, construction firms, ports, stadiums, industrial facilities, and campuses - Mission statement: "Creating a Software Defined Physical World" – providing instant awareness through real-time alerts, semantic search, and a map-based view of every event ## Products & Services - **Specter Platform**: A SaaS-based physical intelligence platform that ingests data from long-range wireless sensors (video, thermal, acoustic) and applies general AI (natural language alerts) to detect events such as unauthorized access, safety hazards, equipment anomalies, fires, spills, and perimeter breaches. Features include semantic search, live and historical event detection, and complete situational awareness dashboards. - **Long-Range Wireless Sensing Network**: Proprietary hardware and software for rugged, wide-area coverage without trenching – deployed across refineries, deserts, offshore platforms, construction sites, and other harsh environments. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed - **Key Metric**: Annual revenue not publicly available; company is actively hiring (Software Engineer – Systems listing) and has a live product across multiple industry verticals. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not publicly available - **Growth Signals**: Recent website updates as of June 2026; expanding to new use cases (energy, data centers, construction, ports, stadiums); job openings indicate scaling engineering team. ## Competitive Advantages - **Long-range wireless sensing** that eliminates blind spots without trenching or on-site personnel – a differentiator for remote and harsh environments. - **General AI with natural language alerts** – users set and query alerts in plain English, lowering the barrier for security and operations teams. - **Multimodal sensing** (video, thermal, acoustic) combined with real-time analytics for high-fidelity event detection (e.g., PPE compliance, spills, equipment theft, person-down incidents). - Focus on **critical infrastructure** where downtime or security gaps carry high stakes, creating deep vertical-specific moats. ## Strategic Focus - Expanding horizontal deployment across energy, data centers, construction, logistics, and campus security. - Deepening AI capabilities through real-time semantic search and event detection to replace traditional CCTV monitoring. - Building a “software-defined physical world” that unifies disparate sensors into a single intelligent layer. ## Why Work Here - Opportunity to work on cutting-edge AI + IoT systems that monitor real-world infrastructure at scale. - Engineering culture likely emphasizes distributed systems, computer vision, edge computing, and high-reliability software (based on job description for Software Engineer – Systems). - Fast-paced startup environment with a clear product-market fit across multiple verticals. - Remote/hybrid policy not explicitly stated; job posting does not specify location, but likely offers flexibility. ## Sources 1. [specter.co](https://specter.co/) 2. [specter.co/product](https://specter.co/product) 3. [specter.co/industries](https://specter.co/industries) 4. [specter.co/features](https://specter.co/features) 5. 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