Staff Embedded Engineer at Watney (San Francisco, CA)
Watney· San Francisco, CA·
Role details
Job description
Our Mission
Expand human ambition in the physical world.
Critical infrastructure is constrained by labor shortages, hazardous working conditions, and operational complexity. Watney builds and deploys autonomous robotic systems that increase the speed and capacity of buildout, starting with data centers.
About the Role
At Watney, Embedded Engineers drive the fundamental capabilities of our robot systems. Working with our mechanical, electrical, and ML teams across new sensor modalities and embodiments, you’ll help set a new high watermark for system reliability and safety. We’re looking for someone irrationally enthusiastic about embedded software development. You should be equally comfortable making long term architectural bets, designing dependable systems, and iterating quickly across a large software surface.
What You’ll Do
- Execute Board Bringup: Lead initial board bring-up, construct reliable Hardware Abstraction Layers (HAL), and write drivers directly touching our raw microcontrollers and actuators.
- Drive HIL Testing & Validation: Architect, set up, and automate robust hardware-in-the-loop testing rigs to ensure exceptional electromechanical reliability and safety.
- Collaborate Internationally: Partner closely with CMs and OEMs to drive specification discovery, influence layout development, and lead early specialized chip bring-up and validation.
- Optimize Low-Level Protocols: Own the communication stack, developing and fine-tuning low-level bus protocols (e.g., I2C, SPI, CAN) to handle high-frequency hardware telemetry streams.
You May Be a Good Fit If You:
- Have deep professional experience developing bare-metal firmware or low-level systems code inside deeply resource-constrained environments.
- Possess high technical competency designing, implementing, or debugging core communication buses (CAN, SPI, I2C).
- Bring a proven track record building out or operating HIL testing infrastructure to catch edge-case hardware faults early.
- Experience interfacing directly with CMs/OEMs to clear up ambiguous requirements, evaluate silicon alternatives, and guide physical board layouts.
We’re committed to building a diverse, inclusive team. At Watney Robotics, we welcome people of all backgrounds and identities, and we make hiring decisions based on skills, experience, and potential. If you’re passionate about robotics but don’t meet every requirement, we still encourage you to apply!
Why work at Watney
- In-Office culture: All roles are based in San Francisco (HQ); the company emphasizes in-person collaboration.
- Ground-floor opportunity: With outsized ownership and visibility, employees shape the “rollout playbook” for a category-defining robotics company.
- Technical challenge: Work on real systems that combine robotics, AI, hardware, and infrastructure at scale.
- Notable peers: Colleagues include alumni from Scale AI, Amazon Web Services, Tools for Humanity, Warburg Pincus, and the US Army Corps of Engineers.
- Growth trajectory: A very young company (founded 2024) with rapid hiring and clear product-market fit, ideal for early-stage career builders.