Lead Firmware Engineer (Embedded C)

We specialize in high-performance instrumentation for measuring and controlling flow and pressure. Our products support aerospace, bioprocessing, energy, environmental science, and advanced research, where precision, stability, and reliability are essential.

Our engineering environment is tightly integrated and highly collaborative. We avoid bureaucracy, make decisions quickly, and value engineers who take ownership and enjoy solving real technical problems.

All our instruments are built in-house at our Tucson, Arizona facility. This vertical integration gives engineers full visibility from concept through production, enabling rapid iteration and strong cross-functional collaboration.

Alicat’s mission is to accelerate the evolution of science and technology by giving researchers and innovators the tools to explore, build, and solve complex challenges. We are part of Halma plc, a global FTSE 100 group focused on growing a safer, cleaner, healthier future. Through Halma, we benefit from long-term stability and investment while maintaining the agility and culture of a mid-sized engineering team.

If you want to work at the intersection of physics, electronics, and embedded systems and help build instrumentation that enables the next generation of technological breakthroughs, Alicat is an exceptional place to do it.

You will work at the boundary between electronics and physics, implementing real-time control algorithms, signal processing routines, and communication protocols that must perform with stability and accuracy across wide dynamic ranges. Your firmware will interact closely with precision analog circuitry, digital control systems, and production calibration processes.

Collaboration is central to this role. You will work closely with Electrical, Mechanical, Software, and Test Engineering to ensure seamless system integration from early hardware bring-up through validation, production release, and long-term sustainment.

In addition to your technical contributions, you will provide leadership for a small firmware team. This is a deeply hands-on role. You will actively write production code while guiding architecture decisions, reviewing contributions, mentoring engineers, and establishing clear, lightweight processes and standards that define how firmware is developed at Alicat.

You will help formalize and continuously improve firmware development workflows, documentation standards, code review expectations, version control practices, and validation procedures appropriate for a fast-iteration, vertically integrated engineering environment.

Based full-time at our Tucson, Arizona facility, you will have full visibility into the product lifecycle and own meaningful firmware outcomes from initial architecture through manufacturing release and field support of new products.

• Architect and implement embedded firmware in C for advanced flow and pressure control instruments.
• Design and maintain modular, scalable firmware architectures supporting long product lifecycles.
• Develop real-time control systems including PID loops, filtering algorithms, and calibration routines.
• Implement hardware abstraction layers and drivers for ADCs, DACs, timers, PWM, DMA, EEPROM/Flash, and sensor interfaces.
• Integrate communication interfaces including UART, SPI, I²C, USB, RS232/RS485, CAN, and industrial protocols such as Modbus, EtherNet/IP, IO-Link, and related standards.
• Develop and maintain bootloaders, firmware update strategies, and diagnostic systems.
• Debug firmware at the register and hardware level using JTAG/SWD, oscilloscopes, and logic analyzers.
• Collaborate with Electrical Engineering during hardware bring-up and root cause analysis.
• Improve code reliability and maintainability through structured reviews, static analysis, and test strategies.
• Contribute to CI/CD build processes and version control workflows.
• Support manufacturing test integration and field diagnostics through well-structured firmware hooks and logging systems.
• Refactor and modernize legacy codebases to improve modularity, clarity, and long-term sustainability.

• Leads NPD system-level planning, architecture definition, and structured work breakdown to ensure scalable, integrated product development across disciplines.
• Provide technical leadership for a small firmware team while remaining a primary hands-on contributor.
• Lead firmware architecture decisions and establish coding standards and development best practices.
• Define and document firmware development processes, including code review standards, branching strategies, release workflows, and documentation expectations.
• Develop and maintain firmware-related SOPs that support design controls, validation, and long-term maintainability.
• Establish clear “ways of working” that balance engineering rigor with Alicat’s fast-iteration culture.
• Drive continuous improvement in tooling, build systems, debugging workflows, and cross-functional integration practices.
• Review code contributions to ensure quality, maintainability, and alignment with system architecture.
• Mentor firmware engineers to deepen embedded systems knowledge and structured debugging capability.
• Coordinate firmware task prioritization and execution in collaboration with cross-functional engineering teams.
• Lead root cause analysis efforts during system integration and validation phases.
• Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, execution discipline, and technical excellence within the firmware team.

• BS in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field required; MS is a plus.
• 8–12+ years of embedded firmware development experience in C.
• Expert-level proficiency in Embedded C within resource-constrained microcontroller environments.
• Proven experience leading firmware development efforts while remaining hands-on in implementation and debugging.
• Demonstrated experience defining or improving engineering processes, development standards, or technical workflows.
• Strong understanding of real-time systems, interrupt-driven design, memory management, and deterministic timing.
• Experience with RTOS-based or well-structured bare-metal firmware architectures.
• Demonstrated experience in hardware bring-up and debugging at the electrical interface level.
• Strong familiarity with communication protocols such as SPI, I²C, UART, USB, CAN, and RS-485.
• Experience implementing control algorithms, signal processing, or precision measurement systems preferred.
• Proficiency with embedded debugging tools, cross-compilers, and version control systems (Git).
• Experience with static analysis tools and firmware code quality methodologies is a plus.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including technical documentation and cross-functional collaboration.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor peers, lead technical decision-making, and drive projects to completion.
• Strong analytical mindset, disciplined debugging skills, and high attention to detail.