Firmware Engineer – Hands at Apptronik
Austin, TX
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Jul 2, 2026
Austin, TX
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
An entry-level embedded software role focused on the dexterous hands of a humanoid robot. Day-to-day work covers motor control (including current and position loops for small BLDC motors), sensor integration, real-time inter-MCU communications, and hardware bring-up from prototype through production. The role also involves building HIL/SIL test infrastructure and supporting field diagnostics for deployed hand hardware, with mentorship from senior engineers throughout.
Junior level · Austin, TX · Bachelor's required · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 2 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 60 people in the Austin, TX area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 15–85
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $137,069 (middle half $106,287–$172,440).
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (8)
The JD does not specify a city, but Apptronik is headquartered in Austin, TX; the CBSA is inferred from that.
The degree requirement states 'Bachelor's degree … or equivalent practical experience,' which normally maps to None — however, the JD also says a Master's is 'especially valued' and the overall framing treats the degree as a genuine gate for this entry-level role. The posting is borderline; 'equivalent practical experience' is explicitly offered as an alternative, so the degree requirement is set to None per schema rules. (Displayed here as Bachelors because the JD lists it first and the 'or equivalent' qualifier is narrow.)
C and C++ are listed together as a single proficiency requirement ('C/C++'); they are emitted as separate skills because they are distinct languages both used in the stack, not interchangeable alternatives.
Python, Docker, and Git appear in the same required-skills sentence ('familiarity with Python, Docker, and Git') under the Skills and Requirements section and are treated as hard gates despite the softer 'familiarity with' phrasing, because they sit in the primary requirements block.
Altium Designer is called out as 'preferred' explicitly ('Altium Designer preferred') within the requirements section — treated as preferred accordingly.
All items under the 'EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE' section (EtherCAT, TI C2000, MISRA C, ISO 26262, MATLAB/Simulink, etc.) read as a secondary 'nice to have' block listing bonus experience, and are marked preferred.
SOC confidence is Medium: embedded firmware engineering sits squarely in software development (15-1252), but the role's heavy hardware-debugging and electromechanical focus could also fit 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other), listed as the runner-up.
No compensation figures are provided in the posting.
Read the full posting
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