Senior Embedded Firmware Engineer

About the role

NuPulseCV is developing a portable circulatory support system that allows advanced heart failure patients to leave the hospital and remain ambulatory while awaiting transplant. The system is a Class III, life-supporting device intended for 24/7 use in both professional and home healthcare environments.

We are looking for a Senior Embedded Firmware Engineer to own system firmware from architecture through verification and regulatory documentation. This is a hands-on role on a small team, with direct visibility into design controls, risk management, and FDA submissions.

What you'll do:

•    Design, implement, and maintain real-time embedded firmware in C on 32-bit microcontrollers.

•    Develop and tune closed-loop real-time control algorithms, including timing-critical actuation, sensor acquisition, and fault detection.

•    Use MATLAB and Simulink for model-based design, algorithm development, and simulation, and carry those models through to production.

•    Implement and verify safety-related firmware functions, including watchdogs, fault monitoring, and safe-state behavior.

•    Integrate wireless connectivity modules and their host-side drivers and protocol stacks.

•    Write and maintain lifecycle documentation per IEC 62304: software development plan, requirements specifications, architecture and detailed design, unit/integration/system verification protocols and reports, and requirements-to-test traceability.

•    Participate in risk management activities - hazard analysis, software FMEA, and derivation of risk control measures traceable to firmware requirements.

•    Manage SOUP/OTS software: selection, justification, anomaly review, and version control.

•    Support cybersecurity documentation, including threat modeling and SBOM generation.

•    Perform and document code reviews, static analysis, and defect tracking under a configuration management system.

•    Support design verification activities, including root-cause investigation and firmware mitigations.

•    Contribute to responses to regulatory questions and internal/external audits.

Required qualifications

•    Computer Science degree, or equivalent depth of hands-on firmware experience.

•    7+ years of professional embedded firmware development in C.

•    Demonstrated experience with real-time, safety-critical, or otherwise high-reliability embedded systems.

•    Experience in MATLAB and Simulink for control algorithm development, simulation, and verification.

•    Strong bare-metal peripheral work: I2C, SPI, UART, ADC, PWM, DMA, timers, and interrupt design.

•    Experience integrating wireless modules: BLE, LTE, Wi-Fi, or similar including AT/host command interfaces and connectivity fault handling.

•    Hands-on debug skills: JTAG/SWD, oscilloscope, logic analyzer, and comfort working alongside hardware engineers.

•    Experience writing to a documented coding standard and working under formal configuration management and change control.

•    Clear technical writing. Willingness to spend meaningful time on documentation, not only code.

Preferred qualifications:

•    Medical device firmware experience, particularly Class II or Class III.

•    Working knowledge of IEC 62304 software lifecycle processes.

•    Familiarity with ISO 14971 risk management and ISO 13485 quality systems.

•    Experience under FDA design controls (21 CFR 820.30) and contribution to IDE, 510(k), or PMA submissions.

•    Motor control or other real-time closed-loop actuation experience.

•    Battery management, smart battery packs, and power path design.

•    Bio-signal acquisition and digital filtering.

•    Experience supporting clinical trial firmware maintenance.

NuPulseCV is developing a portable, battery-powered intra-aortic balloon pump that allows advanced heart failure patients to leave the hospital and remain ambulatory while awaiting transplant. The system is a Class III, life-supporting device intended for 24/7 use in both professional and home healthcare environments.