Senior Firmware Engineer

Sofar Ocean is a ocean intelligence company that operates the largest privately-owned ocean sensor network in the world, delivering real-time data and analytics to maritime, government, defense, and research customers. Their two core platforms are Spotter, a global network of solar-powered buoys and sensing devices that measure waves, wind, weather, sound, currents, temperature, water quality, and water level, and Wayfinder, a voyage optimization software that helps shipping operators reduce fuel consumption and emissions by recommending optimal routes, speeds, and schedules based on live maritime weather data and vessel performance models. The company generates over 1.5 million real-time ocean observations per day from more than 2,500 deployed Spotters worldwide, providing ground-truth data trusted by NOAA, the U.S. Navy, and major commercial shipping fleets. Sofar Ocean's mission is centered on building a comprehensive data layer for the ocean to improve safety, efficiency, and environmental stewardship across maritime industries. Their Wayfinder platform delivers an average fuel reduction of 4 to 8 percent per voyage, directly translating into lower greenhouse gas emissions for commercial shipping, one of the world's largest industrial carbon emitters. By combining proprietary sensor infrastructure with advanced weather modeling, Sofar claims forecasts that are 50 percent more accurate than traditional models, enabling better preparation for extreme weather events and protection of maritime assets. What distinguishes Sofar Ocean is its vertically integrated approach: the company owns and operates its own sensor network, runs its own intelligence models, and delivers end-to-end solutions from raw ocean data collection to actionable voyage guidance. This positions them uniquely at the intersection of climate resilience, maritime efficiency, and ocean science, serving a diverse customer base that includes shipping companies, governments, coral reef researchers, and defense agencies seeking live, hyperlocal ocean intelligence at a global scale.

The Role

You will be a key contributor to the embedded firmware design and implementation of all our hardware products: Spotter, Smart Mooring, next generation platforms and Sofar’s new open hardware connectivity stack — Bristlemouth https://www.bristlemouth.org. You thrive in small and collaborative multidisciplinary teams, and are eager to pitch in to debug and solve gnarly issues. You take pride in your craft. You strive to improve the health of our oceans and planet by shipping a cohesive, elegant and impactful product.

This role will be working onsite from our Pier 28 office at least 3 days per week and reporting to our Senior Engineering Manager.

Some projects you’ll be a part of:

• Building new Bristlemouth integrations for Spotter and Smart Mooring and evolving the open source Bristlemouth core APIs

• Collaborating cross-functionally to build new features on existing platforms

• Developing next generation platforms

• Advanced research and experiments with new and emerging technologies

• Integrated system testing, open ocean deployments, and the occasional throwing of things out of airplanes to see what breaks

Responsibilities

• Design and implement efficient and maintainable FreeRTOS firmware with automated unit and integration tests in a mix of C and C++

• Break down complex efforts into parallelizable work streams for your team

• Implement host-side test, analysis and automation tools in Python

• Participate in code reviews, brainstorms and whiteboard sessions with your team

• Write crystal clear specifications and documentation for both external users and internal colleagues

• Work alongside electrical and mechanical engineers in designing, integrating, testing and debugging systems

• Advocating for the highest leverage features and fixes in product prioritization conversations

• Execute frequent releases for internal proprietary firmware as well as open source Bristlemouth firmware, following test plans, building installers, writing release notes, and announcing the releases in friendly and inviting communications for wide audiences

Minimum Job Qualifications

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills

• Strong systems thinking ability

• Solid foundation of software architecture principles

• At least 5+ years of professional embedded firmware/software experience

• Prior experience as a tech lead for a firmware team

• Fluent in embedded C and C++

• Comfortable in Python

• Experience with FreeRTOS

• Breadth of technology experience including multiple embedded platforms

• An understanding of common hardware peripherals and interfaces

Bonus Points

• Experience with multiple forms of radio telemetry

• Experience with IPv6 networking

• Experience with ARM Cortex-M0, M4, and M33 cores

• Past work in IoT, robotics, drones and/or automotive products

• A passion for or connection to the ocean