Lead Firmware Engineer (C++ Embedded)
Advanced Energy Industries, Inc · Fort Collins, CO
$115,000–$180,000from the description
Jun 29, 2026
Fort Collins, CO
Jul 20, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
Senior level · 8+ years · Fort Collins, CO · Bachelor's required · Full-time
“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
Roughly 2 people in the Fort Collins, CO area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 1–3
Applicant volume Light — Few people clear these requirements, so an application that does clear them gets looked at. Worth applying to even if you miss a nice-to-have.
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
What the occupation pays Median $136,936 (middle half $105,337–$173,197). 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 Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (8)
The title 'Lead Firmware Engineer' carries no explicit seniority level word (Junior/Senior/Staff/etc.), so the title states no level; however, the 8+ years minimum and cross-functional leadership scope firmly support a Senior classification.
C and C++ are listed together as a single requirement ('C/C++') — both are emitted as separate skills per the stack-splitting rule, but they are effectively interchangeable in this context.
Communication protocols (I2C, SPI, CAN, Ethernet, USB, UART) and memory interfaces (DDR3/4) appear under the Qualifications section with the word 'Familiarity with', which is softening language; however, they sit in the primary qualifications block and are treated as hard gates. The 'familiarity' qualifier is noted here as a mild softener.
Microcontroller/FPGA/SoC architecture (e.g., Xilinx Zynq, ARM Cortex-M) is explicitly called out as 'preferred but not required' in the JD, so it is marked as preferred.
The degree requirement states 'B.S. or M.S.' — the minimum is a Bachelor's degree, so the degree requirement is set to Bachelors.
SOC confidence is Medium: embedded firmware engineering sits closest to Software Developers (15-1252), but the role's heavy hardware-interface and real-time control focus could also fit 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other), which is noted as the alt code.
The 'low-level driver development' skill is a named technical capability explicitly required in the Qualifications section; it is retained despite being somewhat activity-phrased because it describes a distinct, concrete engineering discipline in the embedded domain.
Ignored 2 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): real-time embedded firmware, low-level driver development.
Read the full posting
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