Senior Embedded Software Engineer - Mainspring Energy, Inc.

Company Overview

Driven by our vision of the affordable, reliable, net-zero carbon grid of the future, Mainspring has developed a new category of power generation — the linear generator — that delivers local, scalable, and fuel-flexible power to help accelerate the transition to the net-zero carbon grid.

The unique combination of attributes offered by Mainspring’s linear generator enables applications on both the commercial and utility sides of the meter for the $816B global electricity equipment market. We serve a wide range of Fortune 500 customers across markets and industries as well as top-tier utilities and other gridside providers.

We are looking to build relationships with people who share our values:

• Pragmatic Optimism. Building a new category of world-class power generation requires the optimism of ambition and creativity, balanced with practicality to solve problems efficiently. The challenges that arise are opportunities for growth.
• Excellence without Ego. We bring expertise and commitment to creating the best customer experience, from sales to deployment and service, just as we apply deep technical rigor to building and delivering world-class products. We strive for excellence and behave as leaders with the humility to acknowledge our challenges, both collectively and as individual contributors.
• Proactive Collaboration. The integration and cross-disciplinary nature of Mainspring’s business requires intentionally seeking out others who bring different skills, perspectives, and priorities. Our culture of inclusion and respect extends beyond our team to interactions with our partners and customers.

Mainspring is based in Menlo Park and has partnered with top-tier investors and utilities such as Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, NextEra, and American Electric Power. More information can be found at www.mainspringenergy.com.

Mainspring Energy’s revolutionary linear generator is a sophisticated robot. Inside the generator is a network of computers combining embedded Linux and real-time bare metal applications. These orchestrate the critical tasks of shaping control signals and collecting data from a wide variety of sensors which make this technology possible. Our embedded platform is rapidly evolving, and we need great embedded engineers to help us continue to expand the existing platform and help shape the next generation system. If you love building systems, getting hands on hardware and just making everything work, then we need you!

Responsibilities

This is a software engineering role with emphasis on embedded systems.

In the first week, you will close your first issue and review a colleague's merge-request.

In the first month, you will deliver your first driver for a new piece of hardware.

In the first year, you will contribute to the creation of our next generation architecture to enable continued expansion of our suite of sensors and actuators.

As a member of the software team, you will:

• Debug Linux drivers
• Peruse vendor data sheets to build encode/decode functions for unique serial protocols
• Invent communication protocols for use by in-house designed I/O devices
• Select computer and network hardware to balance our performance needs vs. cost
• Write emulators and unit-tests for continuous integration
• Collaborate with Controls and Electrical to drive integrated hardware/software projects from initial research through to product release

Critically, you should enjoy doing these things collaboratively as part of a tightly-coupled and highly interactive team.

If you consider things you enjoy, you might be caught:

• Building your own custom PC or your own home IoT system off a Raspberry Pi
• Contributing to /r/embedded
• Sharing your experience with programming paradigms and best practices, and picking your colleagues brains for theirs
• Letting the smoke out of some ICs (well… maybe not enjoy, but it has to happen sometimes!)

Qualifications

You have...

• Several years experience programming for embedded hardware systems including design, implementation, architecture, and testing (real-time a plus)
• Passion for software engineering best practices (preferably in C++)
• Drive to close issues and the track record to prove it (and open them when you find them)

The Bay Area salary for this role is $140k-$155k base + pre-IPO stock options + benefits. This position can be hybrid. The salary will be adjusted to reflect local market conditions based on employee location as well as the experience of the employee.

Does your experience not meet all of our posted requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to positions unless they meet every listed requirement. At Mainspring, we are committed to building a diverse, inclusive, flexible, and collaborative environment, so if you want to help us transition the world to clean and affordable electricity, and don’t meet all posted requirements for a particular role, we’d still love to hear from you. Mainspring can sometimes be flexible enough to shift responsibilities for the right person, or otherwise identify open or upcoming roles that may better fit your professional background.

In more traditional words, Mainspring Energy, Inc is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

This compensation and benefits information is based on Mainspring Energy's estimate as of the date of publication and may be modified in the future. We generally do not negotiate on salary once we have made an offer. The level of pay within the range will depend on a variety of job-related factors that may include location, relevant prior experience and/or education, or particular skills and expertise. New hires joining the company tend to be paid within the starting base pay range noted above, with opportunities to increase pay over time based on development of additional skills, competencies, and company-specific knowledge.