Staff Embedded Software Engineer Platform Networking (Automotive and Robotics)

Your Role

You will be a technical leader on the team developing our flagship product, dV5. The team's focus is to enhance and extend the dV5 robotic embedded network across Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) layers 1–5, with a focus on PHYs, MACs, Ethernet switches, and the drivers that tie them together, and apply that deep understanding to new surgical robotic systems. You will own the architecture, set the multi-year technical direction, and grow the engineers around you.

Your Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and deliver features architectures across the embedded network stack and help define the technical roadmap across reliability, performance architecture, low latency switching, traffic shaping, and queue management
• Own the architecture and development of Ethernet MAC, PHY, and switch drivers (Linux and RTOS), including bring-up on new silicon and boards
• Define and implement automotive Ethernet switch configuration: VLANs, QoS/priority mapping, ACLs/filtering, port mirroring, and static/dynamic forwarding tables
• Implement and tune TSN features in switch hardware and drivers for safety-critical deterministic traffic
• Set the technical direction and standards for Layer 2/Layer 3 software, Ethernet MAC and PHY drivers, and deterministic real-time paths for safety critical data, applying queueing theory
• Lead design and code reviews, mentor senior and mid-level engineers, and raise the bar on design quality and debugging rigor while staying hands-on in the highest-risk code
• Serve as the technical authority on hardware integration, and lead escalations on the hardest hardware-software networking failures (JTAG, GDB, protocol analyzers)
• Drive alignment across cross functional teams such as FPGA, Electrical, Application Development, Algorithms, Clinical, and Manufacturing to negotiate requirements and resolve architectural tradeoffs
• Influence build-versus-buy and Ethernet switch/PHY silicon selection, working directly with vendors, and make the case for investments that retire technical debt

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with 10+ years, or Master’s degree with 8+ years, of industry experience in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related discipline
• Demonstrated technical leadership on complex systems: owning architecture, mentoring engineers, and influencing direction across organizational boundaries
• A natural communicator with strong critical thinking, and clarity of thought who can explain architectural tradeoffs to engineers and executives alike
• Expert networking fundamentals across the OSI stack, with deep expertise in L2/L3 (Ethernet switching, IP) and working knowledge of L1 (PHY), a solid understanding of TCP/IP stack internals and Ethernet switching fabric design, and expert C/C++ skills for embedded development
• Deep experience architecting and delivering high-speed networking software in automotive, robotics, or industrial, including low-level Ethernet MAC/PHY driver development
• Experience with Linux and embedded RTOS environments (e.g., FreeRTOS, ThreadX, Zephyr, QNX, VxWorks), with a strong understanding of memory management, concurrency, and interrupt handling
• Demonstrated experience leveraging new tools and technology, such as AI coding assistants, to increase speed, and driving adoption across a team

Preferred Experience

• Experience defining multi-generation technical strategy or platform roadmaps for a shipping hardware product
• Strong hardware-software fluency: schematics, datasheets, reasoning across system abstractions
• Hands-on experience configuring and writing drivers for managed Ethernet switch silicon (e.g., NXP SJA11xx, Marvell, Microchip, Broadcom), including register-level programming over SPI/MDIO/SMI
• Hands-on experience with IEEE 802.1 TSN/AVB (802.1AS/gPTP, Qbv, Qav, Qci, CB/FRER), high-availability redundancy on real hardware, L2 switching (VLANs, QoS, segmentation), and Automotive Ethernet (100/1000BASE-T1, BASE-T1S), including zonal or domain controller architectures
• Familiarity with communication middleware (DDS, SOME/IP, ROS 2) and how it maps onto L2 QoS/TSN configuration
• Experience with real-time industrial or robotics networks such as EtherCAT, PROFINET IRT, or EtherNet/IP
• Exposure to functional safety standards (such as IEC 62304, ISO 13485, ISO 14971, IEC 60601, ISO 26262) and embedded network security such as MACsec and IPsec