Senior Embedded Software Engineer

Stic is modernizing one of advertising's oldest formats: out-of-home (OOH). Billboards and transit ads have always sold impressions on faith, with no reliable way to prove who actually saw them. Stic solves that by turning everyday vehicles into GPS-tracked, mobile media. Drivers apply Stic’s decal and earn passive income on miles they're already driving. Using Stic’s technology, brands get informative analytics instead of a billboard's best guess. The global out-of-home advertising market is worth roughly $40 billion a year. Stic is building the measurement layer that legacy OOH never had.

Stic is trusted by brands like TikTok, e.l.f., and PacSun. The traction is already showing up in results: a SXSW campaign for TikTok Radio put 44 vehicles on the road in Austin and generated 3.9 million tracked impressions. That's real, revenue-generating proof in a category still mostly sold on assumption.

Stic is early-stage and lean by design, not by accident, so the people joining now are building the operating playbook rather than following one already written. That means fast and accurate execution, without the layers of process that slow down a bigger company.

About You

As a Senior Embedded Software Engineer at Stic, you will own the firmware and low-level software stack for the Stic Vision v3.0. A sticker-form-factor edge AI device that deploys on any vehicle, any window, any surface, delivering machine vision, real-time analytics, and AI inference at the edge without any vehicle-level integration.

This role sits at the intersection of hardware and intelligence: you will write the firmware that drives computer vision, wireless communication, and sensor fusion on a compact, low-power device operating in real-world automotive environments.

Stic's mission is to bring edge AI sensing to the 1.4 billion legacy vehicles that autonomous platforms cannot reach. This role is foundational to that mission. The firmware you write is what turns a manufacturable sticker into a living sensor node.

Why this role matters

This role is the backbone of Stic's transition from prototype to a fully integrated, proprietary hardware and intelligence platform. The firmware you write directly powers data capture, edge intelligence, and real-world deployment at scale across the largest untapped sensor network on the planet: the existing vehicle fleet.

What you will do

• Develop and maintain embedded firmware in C/C++ for microcontrollers and wireless modules powering the Stic Vision v3.0
• Own OpenMV-based computer vision firmware for person detection, vehicle counting, facial sentiment analysis, and demographic measurement
• Implement BLE communication stacks — advertising, scanning, data payloads, and RSSI-based logic
• Integrate cellular (LTE/5G), GNSS, IMU, camera, and sensor interfaces into a unified firmware architecture
• Build low-power firmware architectures including sleep states, duty cycling, and battery optimization for field-deployed devices
• Define and implement device-to-cloud and device-to-phone communication protocols
• Support OTA update pipelines, field diagnostics, and reliability improvements
• Collaborate with hardware, computer vision, and cloud teams to ensure seamless full-stack integration
• Contribute to board bring-up, hardware/firmware debugging, and system validation across EVT/DVT/PVT cycles

Required

• 5+ years of professional embedded software engineering experience
• Strong proficiency in C, micropython and C++ for embedded systems
• Hands-on experience with BLE firmware development (advertising, scanning, payload design, RSSI logic)
• Experience with real-time operating systems (RTOS), interrupt handling, and low-level memory management
• Familiarity with communication protocols including SPI, I2C, UART, and wireless stacks
• Proficiency with debugging tools including JTAG, oscilloscopes, and logic analyzers
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent experience

Preferred

• Experience with OpenMV or similar embedded computer vision / ML-enabled camera modules
• Familiarity with nRF, STM32, Snapdragon, NVIDIA Jetson, ESP32, or similar platforms
• Experience with LTE/5G module integration and GNSS systems
• Background in edge AI inference, sensor fusion, or on-device ML
• Exposure to EVT/DVT/PVT processes and scaling hardware from prototype to production
• Experience in IoT, automotive, or rugged field-deployed systems

Compensation: $130,000 - 190,000 DOE

Work type: In person (occasional WFH) - Los Angeles, CA

Benefits

• Join a well-funded early-stage company disrupting traditional advertising with patent pending technology
• Explosive career growth
• Health & dental insurance
• PTO policy: 26 days off per year (15 PTO / 11 holidays) prorated for any partial year of employment
• 401(k)

Additional Information

This position does not offer visa sponsorship. Candidates must be authorized to work in the applicable country without requiring employer-sponsored immigration status.

We believe in supporting people to do their best work and thrive, and building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive company is core to our mission. Our goal is to ensure that Stic upholds an inclusive environment where all people feel that they are equally respected and valued, whether they are applying for an open position or working at the company.

Stic is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, age, disability, national or ethnic origin, military service status, citizenship, or other protected characteristic.