Senior Embedded Engineer

About Us

Butlr is the leading AI platform for intelligent spaces. Spun out of the MIT Media Lab in 2019, we combine AI with anonymous body-heat sensing to deliver privacy-first people sensing — no cameras, no PII, privacy enforced at the hardware level. Our sensors power occupancy intelligence for enterprises, senior living communities, healthcare organizations, laboratories, and commercial real estate worldwide, with more than 30,000 privacy-preserving sensors deployed. Butlr has been recognized as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, and our Heatic 2+ sensor won Fast Company's 2025 Innovation by Design Award.

We are hiring talented and passionate people to join our team to help us continue our rapid growth. 

About the Role:

We're seeking a Senior Embedded Engineer to work across our MCU-based edge sensors and embedded Linux–based platform. This is a hands-on role at the cutting edge of IoT and edge computing, within a company experiencing rapid growth. You'll own significant pieces of the embedded stack end to end — firmware, OS builds, connectivity, and OTA — and your work on remote access, updates, and cloud connectivity will be pivotal to our product reliability.

Responsibilities:

Architecture & Collaboration

• Own the design and implementation of significant components of the embedded software stack for our IoT gateway and edge devices
• Participate in design and code reviews, and help uphold engineering standards across the embedded team
• Work closely with hardware, firmware, QA, and cloud teams to integrate and debug across boundaries
• Evaluate and recommend tools, frameworks, and technologies to support the roadmap

Platform & Connectivity

• Design and develop firmware for our MCU-based edge sensors, including RTOS tasks, drivers, sensor integration, wireless stacks, and low-power design
• Build and maintain embedded Linux OS images (Yocto or Debian-based), BSPs, kernel modules, and device drivers
• Implement and maintain connectivity across Ethernet, Wi-Fi, LTE/4G, Wi-Fi HaLow, and PoE, including failover and recovery behavior
• Integrate edge ML inference and cloud middleware (AWS IoT Core, MQTT, REST APIs)

Security, OTA & Reliability

• Implement security features including secure boot, signed firmware, certificate management, and access control
• Develop and maintain OTA firmware update flows, including rollback protection and staged rollout
• Implement system health telemetry, watchdog, auto-recovery, and remote diagnostics

Testing, Performance & Integration

• Develop and execute embedded test plans; contribute to CI/CD pipelines for firmware builds and validation
• Perform peripheral bring-up, SoC driver integration, and RF/sensor validation
• Profile and optimize performance across CPU, memory, I/O, storage, and network

Requirements:

• 7+ years of hands-on embedded software development
• BS in Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or a related field; embedded systems specialization preferred
• Deep expertise in C/C++ across RTOS and embedded Linux environments
• Hands-on experience with embedded Linux builds (Yocto or Debian-based), BSPs, and kernel or driver development
• Experience with networking stacks and multi-interface connectivity, including failover and recovery behavior
• Experience with OTA firmware update systems and cloud-IoT integration (AWS IoT Core, Azure, or equivalent)
• Experience with low-power design for battery-operated devices
• Strong communicator — able to translate technical decisions for non-technical stakeholders

Salary:  $150-$200k based on experience

Location: Burlingame, CA

Benefits:

• World-class team with low ego.
• A work environment that is flexible
• Comprehensive health benefits package
• Retirement savings plan
• Flexible time off
• Professional development opportunities

Why working at Butlr is great!

We are building a culture that puts people first! We’re a team of engaging, motivated, and intelligent problem-solvers who are committed to making an impact. We believe in fostering a culture of healthy work-life balance, and we encourage an inviting, collaborative, fun work environment.

Butlr is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We encourage applicants of all backgrounds to apply!

Disclaimers

Butlr provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.