---
title: 'Staff Firmware Engineer - AMR at Standard Bots'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-firmware-engineer-amr-standard-bots-boston-044tjvwp1dwd'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-08'
---

# Staff Firmware Engineer - AMR at Standard Bots

- **Company:** Standard Bots
- **Location:** Boston, MA
- **Compensation:** $180k–$215k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-11-05
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-08
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/StandardBots/fd6bb74f-93df-4fbb-af5e-2f5aa4ee36af

## Job description

## About Standard Bots

Standard Bots' mission is to significantly lower the barrier to entry to real-world automation, bringing the power of bits to the world of atoms and unlocking productivity for entire new industries and users. Bolt is our mobile manipulation platform: two of our robot arms on an upper body, riding an autonomous mobile base that we are designing and building in-house. Control systems and embedded engineering are the basis of the entire company's mission, and the mobile base is built on them.

## What you'll do

We're looking for an exceptional Staff Firmware Engineer to lead the firmware of Bolt's mobile base. This role sets the firmware architecture for that base from the first prototype: drive and motor control, power and battery systems, sensors and I/O, and the communication that ties them to the robot's compute. Your impact will be measured by how quickly the first AMRs come to life on the bench and the test floor, how reliably they run once they leave it, and how strong the firmware team around you becomes.

## Responsibilities

Bring-up and architecture

- Define the Architecture: Own the firmware architecture across every controller on the base: partitioning, communication buses, timing, update paths, and diagnostics
- Bring Up the Fleet: Lead firmware bring-up for each prototype build with the electrical and mechanical teams, on a hardware schedule that doesn't move. That includes board support packages, drivers, and bootloaders
- Pragmatic Trade-Offs: Make clear, pragmatic calls on what each build needs now and what can wait, balancing long-term vision with timely delivery
- Shape the Hardware: Partner with electrical engineers from schematic review onward, so every board is easy to bring up, test, and debug
- Standard Setter: Set the coding standards, review practices, test expectations, and release process for all AMR firmware

Motion, power, and sensors

- Motion Foundations: Own firmware for the drive modules and their motor control. That covers current, velocity, and steering loops, encoder feedback, and coordinated control of all wheels
- Power and Batteries: Own firmware for power sequencing, battery management communication, charging and docking, and battery swap
- Sensors and I/O: Integrate the sensors and peripherals on the base, and deliver their data reliably to the robot's compute
- Cross-Team Interfaces: Define the interfaces between firmware and the navigation, fleet, and safety software, and between the base and Bolt's upper body

Quality and leverage

- Debug Across Boundaries: Root-cause problems that span firmware, electrical, mechanical, and component behavior. Drive them to closure and turn them into prioritized work that prevents recurrence across the fleet
- Systemic Quality: Build hardware-in-the-loop tests, fault injection, production test firmware, and diagnostic tools that catch problems before they reach a robot
- Technical Multiplier: Mentor the AMR embedded engineers, review their designs, and help grow the team

Software Stack and Ownership Areas This role owns board bring-up, motor control, power and battery systems, sensors and I/O, and firmware test tooling for Bolt's mobile base. Tech Stack

- Embedded: STM32 or similar, C / C++, FreeRTOS or similar
- Communications: CAN, EtherCAT, Ethernet
- Infrastructure & Tooling: Python, GitHub Actions, CI/CD, hardware-in-the-loop rigs

Location This is an on-site role at our new Boston-area office, where Bolt's mobile base is designed, built, and tested. There's some flexibility on days in the office once you're up to speed. The build area, electronics lab, test floor, and robots are steps from your desk.

## Who you are

We're looking for a firmware leader who has taken a battery-powered robot or vehicle from first boards to a fielded fleet. You lead by writing the hard parts yourself, and you know what it takes for firmware to survive thousands of hours on a factory floor. You're comfortable operating with complete independence.

## Skills you'll bring

- Experience: 8+ years of embedded firmware development, including leading firmware for a battery-powered product with motors through production
- Motor Control: Hands-on motor control firmware experience (FOC, current sensing, encoders), ideally for traction or steering drives
- Embedded Depth: Mastery of C / C++ on microcontrollers, RTOS design, real-time scheduling, interrupts and DMA, and peripheral drivers
- Bring-Up Skills: Fluent with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, DMMs, and schematics. You diagnose timing, signaling, and electrical issues at the bench
- Power Systems: Experience with power sequencing, BMS communication, and charging
- Leadership: You've led engineers through an NPI cycle and made them better
- Cross-Functional Influence: Proven ability to influence technical direction without direct authority and successfully partner with hardware engineering, motion planning, safety, and executive leadership
- Clarity of Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, capable of synthesizing complex technical risks and strategies for non-technical leadership
- Impact Driven: You relentlessly seek user impact and value execution over technical idealism
- Proactive Simplicity: A relentless drive to reduce complexity, improve operational simplicity, and proactively identify organizational-level technical risks and address them before they become crises
- Excelling in Ambitious Environments: Your best work happened where hardware deadlines were real and the plan changed weekly

## Nice to have

- Prior work on mobile robots, AGVs, or autonomous vehicles
- Swerve, omnidirectional, or other multi-wheel steering drive control
- Functional safety development (ISO 13849, IEC 61508)
- Over-the-air firmware update systems for fielded fleets

## Compensation

The base salary range for this role is [$200,000 to $230,000], depending on experience. Base salary is just one part of the overall compensation at Standard Bots. All full-time employees are eligible for employee stock options. We also offer paid time off, medical, dental, and vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and a 401(k) to regular full-time employees.

## About Standard Bots

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Standard Bots is an American AI-native industrial robot manufacturer that builds affordable, easy-to-use six-axis robot arms designed and assembled in the USA.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series stage not publicly disclosed)
- **Headquarters**: Glen Cove, New York, USA
- **Founded**: 2020
- **Founders**: Evan Beard (Founder & CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Industrial Robotics / Manufacturing / AI
- **Target customers**: B2B — small to large businesses in manufacturing, machining, warehousing, and industrial automation
- **Mission**: "Propel human productivity through the world’s most accessible robots."

## Products & Services
- **Bolt**: Entry-level six-axis robot arm (900mm reach, 8kg payload) starting at $29,500. Designed for light-duty automation in tight spaces — pick & place, inspection, and assembly.
- **Spark**: Mid-range workhorse robot (1,300mm reach, 18kg payload) starting at $39,500. Built for machining, welding, finishing, pick & place, and inspection.
- **Thor**: Heavy-duty robot (2,000mm reach, 18kg payload) starting at $49,500. Includes Miller Auto Delta Weld package for welding applications. Built for bimanual tasks, palletizing, and heavy applications.
- **AI-Native Control Platform**: Robots are programmed through demonstration (no code, no PhD required). Foundation models generalize across variations. Real-time AI-driven torque control. Pre-built playbooks for common tasks, native integrations, simulator, and remote access dashboards.
- **Vision-Guided Inspection**: Automated defect detection with vision-guided checks.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Private company; funding details not publicly available
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Growth Signals**: Expanding manufacturing operations with goal to produce everything "from metal in to robots out" in America by 2027. Actively hiring across multiple engineering and operations roles. Growing product line with three distinct robot models (Bolt, Spark, Thor).

## Competitive Advantages
- **AI-native architecture**: First industrial robot joints designed for real-time AI-driven torque control; robots learn through demonstration rather than complex programming — "no PhD required."
- **Cost leadership**: Starting at $29,500, significantly cheaper than legacy industrial robot solutions while claiming 3x faster performance.
- **Vertical integration**: Designs nearly every part and assembles every final product in-house in Glen Cove, NY. Goal to manufacture everything in America by 2027.
- **Ease of use**: Program complex routines from a tablet; pre-built playbooks; no-code interface; vision-guided inspection with ±0.1 Nm repeatability.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling domestic manufacturing to full vertical integration (metal in to robots out) by 2027.
- Expanding AI capabilities with foundation models that generalize across unseen variations.
- Growing product line to cover light-duty (Bolt), mid-range (Spark), and heavy-duty (Thor) applications.
- Building out software, firmware, and AI teams to deepen the "AI-native" robotics platform.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Mission-driven environment focused on "making tomorrow easier" through accessible robotics. Emphasis on hardware, software, firmware, and electronics integration.
- **Work Policy**: Hybrid — employees typically work on-site 3 days a week. Offices in Glen Cove, NY; NYC; and Seattle.
- **Team Size**: ~130 total employees, ~25 in Product + Tech.
- **Engineering Focus**: Roles span embedded systems, motion planning, full-stack, firmware, AI research, and core platform engineering. Technology stack includes modern robotics and AI tooling.
- **Growth Stage**: Early-stage, fast-growing company (founded 2020) with significant manufacturing expansion plans. Opportunity to shape both product and culture.

## Sources
1. [standardbots.com](https://standardbots.com/)
2. [standardbots.com/about](https://standardbots.com/about)
3. [standardbots.com/careers](https://standardbots.com/careers)
4. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/standard-bots)
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/StandardBots)

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