Amazon Robotics is seeking a Senior Embedded Software Engineer to help lead development of safety-rated sensor processing firmware. You will set technical direction for major subsystems of the perception-inferencing stack (real-time safety applications, sensor processing pipelines, and system interfaces on heterogeneous multi-core MCU/CPU/GPU platforms) that let robots in Amazon facilities worldwide detect and respond to obstacles safely and reliably. You will own the team's hardest end-to-end problems, framing solutions where the business need is clear but the technical strategy is not, and raise the bar for the engineers around you.
We are looking for a technical leader who is deeply proficient in Rust (or strong in C/C++ and eager to work in Rust), is fluent across the boundary between RTOS and Linux on the same chip, has substantial experience with sensor data acquisition or signal processing, and can architect systems that meet the rigor of IEC 61508 functional safety certification. You will influence beyond your immediate team, shaping designs, resolving escalations, mitigating long-term one-way-door risks, and mentoring engineers, all while collaborating closely with hardware, functional safety, and navigation teams to deliver firmware where correctness is not optional.
Key job responsibilities
The ideal candidate is a force multiplier who sets technical direction across teams and raises the bar for associate safety. They will:
- Lead the design and architecture of major safety-rated and non-safety-rated firmware subsystems in Rust on heterogeneous multi-core platforms, where real-time safety code and Linux services coexist on the same chip.
- Set technical direction across the full sensor processing pipeline (driver integration, frame acquisition, point cloud generation, collision detection) and influence peer hardware, safety, and navigation teams.
- Own the team's hardest end-to-end problems, framing solutions where the business problem is known but the technical strategy is not.
- Raise the technical bar through design and code reviews, and mentor engineers so the team is more reliable because of your presence but does not require it.
- Produce direction-setting design documents and safety analysis artifacts that meet the rigor of third-party certification and witness testing.
- Lead debugging and root-cause analysis end-to-end, from raw sensor data to safety responses, on real robots at test facilities and in production.
- Leverage AI coding assistants as a force multiplier and lead the team to do the same.
A day in the life
No two days are the same. You might spend the morning aligning peer teams around a subsystem architecture in a design review, then head to the test floor after lunch to lead a cross-functional debug with electrical and QA engineers, determining whether an issue is firmware, hardware, or a faulty sensor. That afternoon you profile a pipeline to close a latency budget, then pair with another engineer to unblock their design. Our engineers take complete ownership (from interrupt handlers to CI/CD pipelines to on-site data collection) and frequently enter new areas to meet our customers' needs. As a senior engineer, you help chart where the team goes next.
About the team
Join the world-leading Safety Firmware team at Amazon Robotics, where we develop embedded safety systems deployed across Amazon's robotic fleet. We specialize in safety-certified solutions that combine rigorous standards compliance with deterministic, reliable performance. Our "secret sauce" is integrating safety considerations from initial design through delivery, enabling us to meet ambitious schedules without compromising quality. As Amazon's automation portfolio expands, our team has evolved into specialized groups united by common DNA and a shared commitment to excellence in safety-critical embedded software development.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 6+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
- 6+ years of programming with at least one software programming language experience
- 6+ years of leading design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- Experience as a mentor, tech lead or leading an engineering team
- Proficiency in embedded development in Rust; alternatively, strong modern C/C++ embedded experience with demonstrated willingness and ability to work in Rust
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- 6+ years of full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations experience
- Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent
- Experience developing RTOS applications or bare-metal real-time systems
- Experience with heterogeneous multi-core platforms (e.g., ARM Cortex-A + Cortex-R/M + GPUs)
- Experience with general troubleshooting and debugging of hardware
- Experience writing low-level drivers (V4L2, I2C, SPI, DMA)
- Experience with gRPC, Protocol Buffers, or similar RPC/serialization frameworks
- Familiarity developing embedded software in a safety-standards-controlled environment such as IEC 61508 or ISO 26262
- Working knowledge of 3D geometry, coordinate transforms, or point cloud processing
- Experience with robotics middleware (ROS/ROS2) or visualization tools (Foxglove, RViz)
The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.
USA, MA, North Reading - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
USA, MA, Westboro - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
