---
title: 'Software Engineer - HIL at Neuralink'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-hil-neuralink-austin-w4fyyg4z025x'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-16'
---

# Software Engineer - HIL at Neuralink

- **Company:** Neuralink
- **Location:** Austin, TX / South San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $151k–$281k
- **Posted:** 2026-09-25
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-16
- **Apply:** https://boards.greenhouse.io/neuralink/jobs/8005730003?gh_jid=8005730003

## Job description

About Neuralink:

We are creating devices that enable a bi-directional interface with the brain. These devices allow us to restore movement to the paralyzed, restore sight to the blind, and revolutionize how humans interact with their digital world.

## The Role

Neuralink’s next generation surgical robot will perform brain surgery at scale, installing hundreds of tiny threads into the brain to enable brain computer communication.

You will own the robot’s Hardware In the Loop (HIL) test system. Exercise the production surgical robot, controllers and firmware against controlled inputs, reproduce faults, and automate verification. Your HIL will enable unattended test & verification to run day and night. Your work will help deliver reliable surgical robots at scale, bringing Neuralink to more people.

## What you’ll do

- Build and maintain robot HIL — real hardware running production software and firmware.
- Write automated HIL tests for integration, timing, faults, and bring-up.
- Define pass/fail, coverage, and acceptance criteria.
- Wire software-in-the-loop tests, HIL tests, and hardware acceptance into one CI pipeline with logs, traces, and reproducible results.
- Own release-gating tests. When a failure escapes sim or HIL, you reproduce it and close the coverage gap.

Note: The team is hiring engineers at all levels, both junior and senior. What matters most is evidence of exceptional abilities and a drive to succeed.

## What we’re looking for

- Strong Rust skills; Python for test tooling and analysis. Comfortable close to drivers, firmware, and buses.
- Experience with HIL, test rigs, or system-level verification on robots, vehicles, or similar hardware.
- Experience debugging async and concurrent systems, RPC, telemetry, and timing failures across software and firmware.
- Experience building automated test pipelines. Bazel experience is a plus.
- Effective at using AI agents to accelerate work while maintaining quality.
- Obsession with repeatability, edge cases, and traceability.
- Required: Bachelor's degree in a technical field (Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, etc.) or equivalent practical experience.

Expected Compensation:

The anticipated base salary for this position is expected to be within the following range. Your actual base pay will be determined by your job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. We also believe in aligning our employees’ success with the company's long-term growth. As such, in addition to base salary, Neuralink offers equity compensation (in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSU)) for all full-time employees.

Base Salary Range: $151,000—$281,000 USD

What We Offer:

Full-time employees are eligible for the following benefits listed below.

- An opportunity to change the world and work with some of the smartest and most talented experts from different fields
- Growth potential; we rapidly advance team members who have an outsized impact
- Excellent medical, dental, and vision insurance through a PPO plan
- Paid holidays
- Commuter benefits
- Meals provided
- Equity (RSUs) *Temporary Employees & Interns excluded
- 401(k) plan *Interns initially excluded until they work 1,000 hours
- Parental leave *Temporary Employees & Interns excluded
- Flexible time off *Temporary Employees & Interns excluded

## About Neuralink

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Neuralink develops implantable brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) that decode neural signals to restore autonomy for people with paralysis and other neurological conditions.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series D; total funding $1.35B as of Aug 2025)
- **Headquarters**: Fremont, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2016
- **Founders**: Elon Musk, Max Hodak, Benjamin Rapoport, Dongjin Seo, Paul Merolla, Philip Sabes, Timothy J. Gardner, Tim Hanson, Vanessa Tolosa

## Core Business
- Primary industry: Neurotechnology / Biotechnology (implantable medical devices)
- Target customers: B2C (patients with quadriplegia, ALS, spinal cord injury), B2B (hospitals, research institutions, clinical partners)
- Mission: "Building brain interfaces to restore autonomy" – initially helping people with unmet medical needs control computers and robotic arms with their thoughts, and ultimately unlocking human potential.

## Products & Services
- **N1 Implant (“the Link”)**: Coin-sized, surgically implanted BCI that records and stimulates brain activity via flexible neural threads. Enables users to control digital devices (mouse, keyboard, apps) using thought alone. Available only in clinical trials (PRIME Study).
- **Telepathy**: Product name for the N1 Implant’s capability to allow users to control computers and mobile devices (announced by Musk).
- **Blindsight**: Experimental implant designed to restore visual perception by directly stimulating the visual cortex. Received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation in September 2024.
- **Speech BCI**: Device under development to restore communication for individuals with severe speech impairment (ALS, stroke, etc.). Received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation in May 2025.
- **Neurosurgical Robot**: Custom robot for autonomous, precise insertion of neural threads during surgery.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: ~$9 billion (per Tracxn, as of 2026)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding ~$1.35 billion (13 rounds); annual revenue ~$20 million (pre-commercial, primarily from research partnerships)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Founders Fund (led Series D), CoreNest Capital (led 2025 venture round), Elon Musk (owns >50%). Partners include University Health Network (Toronto), FDA (regulatory collaboration).
- **Growth Signals**:
  - 21 human patients implanted as of January 2026
  - Headcount grew 31.3% year-over-year to ~400 employees (with 127 active job postings)
  - Received FDA Breakthrough Device Designations for Blindsight and speech BCI
  - Expanded clinical trials to Canada (first procedures outside the U.S. in Aug/Sep 2025)
  - Patients reached typing speeds of up to 40 words per minute and achieved information transfer rates comparable to able-bodied mouse users

## Competitive Advantages
- **First-mover with human implants**: Only BCI company with FDA-approved human trials and over 20 implanted patients.
- **Robotic precision**: Proprietary surgical robot capable of inserting ultra-thin threads (4–6 µm) that are too fine for human hands.
- **Regulatory momentum**: Multiple FDA Breakthrough Device Designations accelerating development for vision, speech, and motor restoration.
- **Interdisciplinary talent pool**: Recruits from Tesla, SpaceX, OpenAI, Stanford, UCSF; team spans neuroscience, electrical engineering, robotics, and microfab.
- **High-profile leadership**: Elon Musk’s visibility draws talent, funding, and media attention.

## Strategic Focus
- **Clinical expansion**: Scale the PRIME Study to more patients and new sites (Canada, additional countries).
- **Product pipeline**: Commercialize Blindsight (vision) and speech prosthetics; develop motor/sensory restoration capabilities.
- **Regulatory pathway**: Transition from trial-only to eventual commercial approval by the FDA.
- **R&D**: Advance silent speech interfaces, cognitive enhancement, and broader neurological applications (epilepsy, depression, etc.).

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven impact**: Work directly on technology that restores function and independence to people with paralysis, ALS, and blindness.
- **Rapid growth**: 31% annual headcount increase; employees often advance quickly due to cross-functional, ambitious projects.
- **Culture**: Open communication and collaboration champion “the best ideas, regardless of where they come from” ([neuralink.com/careers](https://neuralink.com/careers/)).
- **Disciplines welcome**: Engineering (embedded, software, optical, analog IC), surgery/robotics, neuroscience, manufacturing, and operations.
- **Perks & environment**: Fremont HQ with plans for a larger facility near Austin. Hands-on, lab-heavy work likely requires on-site presence.
- **Career development**: Internal growth opportunities, exposure to cutting-edge science, and cross-team collaboration.

## Sources
1. [neuralink.com](https://neuralink.com/)
2. [neuralink.com/careers](https://neuralink.com/careers/)
3. [linkedin.com/company/neuralink](https://www.linkedin.com/company/neuralink)
4. [tracxn.com/d/companies/neuralink](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/neuralink/__oUVI98zbdmLZga1LgBRb3oGJJBxjbzTc7bMWUfAOLws)
5. [builtin.com/hardware/what-is-neuralink](https://builtin.com/hardware/what-is-neuralink)

## Other roles at Neuralink

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