Senior Embedded Systems Engineer

Come Dream with Us at Meridian Softworks There’s nothing like a great night’s sleep—the cozy, wrapped-up-in-a-heavy-blanket kind of sleep. The fire-crackling, curtains-drawn, DO NOT DISTURB kind of sleep. You know, the good stuff. But here’s the thing: while 85% of people agree sleep is the key to their well-being, more than half are unsatisfied with their own. Whether it’s stress, interruptions, work, or little ones waking in the night, so many people need help getting truly restorative rest. That’s where we come in. At Meridian Softworks , we’re on a mission to help people build better sleep habits—so they can feel more focused, energized, and present in their lives. We’ve designed best-in-class smart sleep devices, paired with science-backed sleep content, to help people unwind nightly, sleep deeply, and wake gently. More than 5 million sleepers of all ages have made space for rest with Meridian Softworks , with our baby products in 1 in 3 nurseries and our adult product, Restore, taking over nightstands (and TikTok) worldwide. We are open to candidates across the U.S. and Canada. Meridian Softworks is based in California, so we ask that you're available during PST/PDT hours. The Opportunity We are hiring for a Senior Embedded Systems Engineer. You will develop firmware for our family of baby and adult sleep devices. That means developing new features and fixing issues in our microcontroller code written with the ESP-IDF and running FreeRTOS, which keeps millions of devices humming in real homes. You’re a great fit if you thrive in environments of rapid learning and delivery. You are used to operating at the border between hardware and software and happily use the tools applicable to each. You’re self-motivated and have demonstrated strong ownership and self-direction. You strive to understand the business of what we are trying to accomplish and push engineering solutions to provide customer value. As a small company where AI-assisted development is core to how we work, we expect this role to ramp up quickly, use AI fluently in their day-to-day, and deliver broadly across our embedded systems. What You’ll Do 📆 Within 1 month: Dig into our Embedded architecture and tools through both team walkthroughs and your own deep exploration, and come back with clear observations Own and ship fixes and features, using AI fluently to accelerate delivery Use and understand tools for observability Build strong working relationships with peers across mobile, backend, product, QA, and other teams 🚀 Within 3 months: Thoroughly understand the system architecture including interactions with the mobile app and cloud backend Learn what drives the business and bring sharp judgement to what we prioritize Own and ship complex fixes and features, refactors, and process improvements. Improve observability by participating in the development of dashboards and tools, enhancing the firmware when needed ✨ After 6 months: Lead the design and rollout of new product firmware or large-scale refactors Mentor teammates and model pragmatic, high-quality engineering decisions Own and drive embedded improvements that elevate reliability, stability, and developer experience Build reusable modules, scripts, and patterns that increase engineering consistency Do all of these things keeping the customer experience at the forefront of our team’s attention What You’ll Bring 7+ years of experience in Embedded engineering, with deep expertise in C development on resource constrained MCUs running an RTOS, BLE/Bluetooth, Wifi, SPI, I2C, I2S, LEDs. Familiarity and experience with Jira, Git/Github, GDB, Make/Cmake, python, schematics, part selection, understanding datasheets. Track record of working at the border between hardware and software, delivering high quality consumer products in a cost, schedule, and MCU resource constrained environment. A passion for evolving existing production firmware by improving structure, testability, and maintainability of a codebase without regressing a product customers depend on. You can tell when tech debt needs to be dealt with and when it can wait. Automate, Automate, Automate : You know how to write automated tests and processes and can explain how and where to use them (and when not). Desire for elegance and simplicity : Your code should be powerful and simple. "Do the simplest thing that can possibly work" is not just a slogan here; it's a way of life. Judgement and Humility : You’re self-aware enough to know you’re going down a rabbit hole and when to raise concerns. You know that asking for help is not a sign of weakness but rather a strength. Unafraid of new, unknown tech: You dive into new tech and paradigms that are unfamiliar and uncomfortable with eager glee. You’ve picked up multiple languages over your career and stay curious about new tools, frameworks, and technologies. Pragmatic: … but you also understand that the shiniest new thing isn’t always the best solution. Collaborative spirit : You make everyone around you better. Clear communication : You ca