Firmware Engineer, Staff at Redwire Defense Tech
Ann Arbor, MI
$134,000–$175,500
Aug 12, 2026
Ann Arbor, MI
Sep 24, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A Staff Firmware Engineer role on the Energy Systems team, focused on developing bare-metal embedded firmware for power systems products such as batteries, fuel cells, or similar complex systems. The position spans the full firmware lifecycle — from architecture and bootloader design through board bring-up, hardware integration, communication driver development, and HIL/SIL validation. It suits a seasoned embedded engineer comfortable owning subsystem-level architecture and mentoring junior engineers.
Senior level · 7+ years · Ann Arbor, MI · Bachelor's required · Full-time
Pay in the description: $134,000–$175,500
Advertised as Staff, but the requirements read as Senior.
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
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
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
What the occupation pays Median $129,619 (middle half $103,323–$144,724). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Aug 15, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (5)
The title is 'Staff Firmware Engineer' but the actual scope — owning a subsystem, mentoring junior engineers, and serving as a cross-functional technical interface — aligns with a Senior individual contributor rather than a true Staff-level role with org-wide technical authority. Seniority is assessed as Senior accordingly.
SOC 15-1252 (Software Developers) is used as the closest match; embedded/firmware engineering does not have a dedicated SOC code. 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other) is noted as a plausible alternative.
The posting mentions ITAR/EAR compliance documentation requirements but does not gate the role on holding or obtaining a US security clearance; no clearance is required. Prior experience with defense contracts is listed only under Preferred Qualifications.
Code Composer Studio is listed as an example IDE ('such as Code Composer Studio'); it is captured as a required skill because it appears under Required Qualifications, with the understanding that equivalent IDEs may be acceptable.
MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are listed under Required Qualifications and are captured as required, though they are unlikely to be genuine rejection criteria in practice.
Read the full posting
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