Staff Firmware Engineer - Milpitas, California, United States
$208,300 USD yearly
Originally posted 15 October 2026 by the employer.
Develop firmware for quantum computing control systems.
About the role
The Staff Firmware Engineer is a hands-on technical leader and firmware developer on PsiQuantum’s Firmware team, within the Electronics organization. This role leads firmware architecture and development for quantum computing control systems.
What you'll do
- Define system architecture and design in partnership with hardware and systems architecture teams.
- Evaluate and select components to meet system requirements.
- Lead firmware-focused schematic reviews, identifying design risks and ensuring hardware supports system and firmware needs.
- Architect, develop, and validate firmware for quantum computing control systems and other research and development programs.
- Set technical direction for firmware design and implementation, and raise the quality of the team’s work through design reviews and technical mentorship.
- Define and drive software interface specifications and deliverables across firmware, hardware, and systems teams.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
- Minimum of 10 years hand-on firmware development and architecture experience leading to a successful commercial product.
- Experience architecting solutions for multiple products and/or sets of control boards.
- Expert level firmware development in C/C++.
- Intermediate or advanced Python for control and test interfaces.
- Familiarity with build systems, version control, and test driven development.
- Schematic review and hardware debugging tools and techniques.
- RTOS, bare metal, and linux development experience.
- Communications protocol development and TCP/IP protocol implementations.
This role has been open 0 days — well below the 56-day median for Embedded Firmware Engineering roles.
Embedded Firmware Engineering · Systems Software
|
Open roles in category
723
|
Median days open
56 d
|
Median salary
$166k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | PsiQuantum | All employers we track in this specialty (723 roles · 82 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 2 | 723 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 34 | 6127 · 145 employers |
| Median days open | 0 d | 56 d (−56 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $166k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 117 open roles · median 65 d
- Micron Technology · 61 open roles · median 83 d
- NVIDIA · 59 open roles · median 57 d
- AMD · 58 open roles · median 35 d
- Lattice Semiconductor · 43 open roles · median 36 d
- NXP Semiconductors · 28 open roles · median 42 d
How we counted: 723 open Embedded Firmware Engineering (Systems Software) roles from 82 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 15 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.