Job Description: Staff Firmware Engineer, Battery Systems Location: San Jose, CA, U.S ***Full-time role***
Direct experience developing data center power equipment.
Hands-on experience with the full product lifecycle, from design and development through testing and production.
Strong industry knowledge with the ability to ramp up quickly.
Comfortable working in a fast-paced startup environment with changing priorities.
Flexible and willing to take on responsibilities outside the traditional job scope.
Self-starter who is adaptable, hands-on, and comfortable wearing multiple hats.
Description:
Client is on a mission to transform energy storage with solid-state lithium-metal battery technology. The company’s next-generation batteries are designed to enable greater energy density, faster charging and enhanced safety to support the transition away from legacy energy sources toward a lower carbon future.
About the role: As Staff Firmware Engineer, Battery Systems, you are responsible for all the key functions of a battery system (monitoring, protection, communications, etc). You create algorithms for estimating state of charge, define all the states and transitions of the battery, implement all communication protocols, and ensure reliable protection functions.
Why this role matters: The operating performance and safety of the battery pack rely on firmware that is well designed and thoroughly validated. From critical timing control of interrupts to carefully configured peripherals to minimize power consumption, to innovative SOC estimation algorithms, every aspect of the battery pack’s performance relies on firmware.
What you'll do:
Create a firmware platform for the battery pack with bare metal/RTOS and drivers
Define pinouts of microcontrollers to ensure proper allocation of peripherals
Design protection functions with redundancy and consistent timing
Power sequencing and pre-charge control for inrush current limiting
Design SOC/SOH estimation algorithm for our unique solid-state batteries
Define states and transitions to cover all operating modes
Ensure minimum operating and sleep mode power consumption
Create a scheme for firmware read/write protections and upgrade
Collaborate with ODM partners to create and validate firmware protocols
Bring up hardware platforms that are built from scratch by identifying issues and working with hardware engineers to resolve them
Provide firmware validation and regression test plans to our lab
What you bring:
a relevant Bachelor’s degree and 9+ years’ experience or a relevant Master’s degree and 8+ years’ experience or relevant Ph.D. and 5+ years’ experience
5+ years writing BMS firmware for lithium-Ion battery packs
Proficiency with TI C2000, STM32 or similar microcontroller platforms
In-depth understanding of timing and latency control of RTOS and Interrupts
Experienced in designing and fine-tuning SOC/SOH estimation algorithms
Familiar with configuring hardware peripherals (ADC, PWM, Comparator, UART, etc) and writing drivers
Capable of creating a firmware platform from scratch
Comfortable with working on medium to high power battery packs (>20kW)
Good understanding of battery protection features and safety requirements such as UL2054, UL1973, UL 9540A and IEC 62133
Experience implementing battery/power management communication protocols such as SMBus, PMBus and ModBus
Track record with at least two battery products through prototype bring up, validation and regulatory approval
Fluent in C for bare-metal and RTOS environments; comfortable with fixed-point math for real-time control
Nice to have:
Experience in digital control of power converters (PFC, DC/DC, Inverters, etc)
Good understanding of Lithium-Ion battery chemistry and characteristics
Familiarity with OpenBMC integration and Redfish/IPMI protocols
Experience with code review and audits for regulatory compliance
Experience with configurable modular multi-pack systems
Exposure to OCP power shelf communication and management standards
Experience in a customer-facing application engineering role
Applicant Notices & Disclaimers
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At SPECTRAFORCE, we are committed to maintaining a workplace that ensures fair compensation and wage transparency in adherence with all applicable state and local laws. This position's pay range is $140000.00/Yearly - $180000.00/Yearly.
