Founding Firmware Engineer at Alpha Machines

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Job Title

Founding Firmware Engineer

Salary

£80k-£120k + Equity

Company Description

Alpha Machines is a well-funded London-based hardware startup founded by repeat unicorn founders to build critical infrastructure for the physical AI economy. The company designs and manufactures advanced power electronics and propulsion systems for aerospace, defense, and robotics, leveraging its proprietary AlphaOS AI platform to re-industrialize Europe through vertically integrated manufacturing.

Job Description

As the first firmware hire, you will own the entire embedded software platform for Alpha Machines' propulsion systems. You'll architect the RTOS, hardware abstraction layer, and bootloaders while bridging the gap between Simulink control models and real-time execution. Your work ensures reliability and performance in safety-critical applications across aerospace and robotics.

Location

London, UK

Why this role is remarkable

• Join a high-pedigree founding team of repeat unicorn founders as the first embedded software hire, gaining massive ownership over the firmware architecture and stack.
• Work on mission-critical hardware where your code directly drives physical systems in aerospace and defense, contributing to the re-industrialization of Europe.
• Receive a significant founding-team equity stake in a well-funded startup building the fundamental infrastructure for the next generation of physical AI.
  
  

What You Will Do

• Architect and own the complete embedded firmware platform, including RTOS integration, hardware abstraction layers, and secure bootloaders for ARM Cortex-M targets.
• Implement deterministic communication stacks for CAN, DroneCAN, and SPI, ensuring high-reliability data transfer and fault tolerance for safety-critical drone applications.
• Develop the code generation toolchain using Embedded Coder to translate complex MATLAB/Simulink control models into high-performance, deployed embedded C/C++ firmware.
  
  

The ideal candidate

• Has 5+ years of experience building RTOS-based embedded platforms from hardware bring-up through production, with deep proficiency in ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers.
• Demonstrates expert-level mastery of embedded C/C++, interrupt-driven architectures, and peripheral driver development for resource-constrained environments.
• Possesses hands-on hardware expertise, including reading schematics and using oscilloscopes, combined with experience in model-based design toolchains like Simulink and Embedded Coder.
  
  

Who are Jack & Jill?

Ok, I'll go first. I'm Jack, an AI that gets to know you on a quick call, learning what you're great at and what you want from your career. Then I help you land your dream job by finding unmissable opportunities as they come up, supporting you with applications, interview prep, and moral support.

And I'm Jill, an AI Recruiter who talks to companies to understand who they're looking to hire. Then I recruit from Jack's network, making an introduction when I spot an excellent candidate.

How does this work?

• Jack's an AI agent for job searching and career coaching. He works for you.
• Jill is the AI recruiter working for the company. She recruits from Jack's network.
• If it's a match and the company wants to meet you, they'll make the intro. In the meantime, if you'd like, Jack will send you excellent alternatives.
  
  

We never post fake jobs

This isn't a trick. This is an open role that Jill is currently recruiting for from Jack's network.

Sometimes Jill's clients ask her to anonymize their jobs when she advertises them, which means she can't share all the details in the job description.

We appreciate this can make them look a bit suspect, but there isn't much we can do about it.

Give Jack a spin! You could land this role. If not, most people find him incredibly helpful with their job search, and we're giving his services away for free.