Firmware Engineer (IPS)

• Company: ePropelled
• Location: Coventry, UK
• Level: Engineer or Senior Engineer,
• depending on experience and demonstrated capability
• Reports to: UK Firmware Engineering

Manager

• Working arrangements: On Site at
• ePropelled’s Coventry office.
• Status: Ready

About ePropelled

• ePropelled develops intelligent
• propulsion and power management systems for uncrewed vehicles operating in the
• air, on land and at sea. Its products combine electrical machines, power
• electronics and embedded control to deliver integrated propulsion and onboard
• power solutions.

The role

• We are looking for a Firmware Engineer to
• develop embedded firmware across ePropelled’s product lines. You will
• contribute to the successor to our Intelligent Power System (IPS), also
• referred to as a Power Management Unit (PMU), alongside work on motor controllers,
• peripheral devices and other embedded products as priorities require.
• You will work closely with electronics,
• controls, software and systems engineers to turn requirements into reliable
• firmware. The work spans low-level drivers, real-time behaviour, hardware
• integration, communications, diagnostics, testing and support through product
• release. Your initial responsibilities will reflect your existing strengths and
• the needs of the projects.
• Motor control is an important area for this
• role, and experience developing motor controller firmware would be particularly
• valuable. We also welcome candidates whose strongest experience is in sensors,
• peripherals, communications or other embedded control applications. You do not
• need to arrive with both specialisms. You should be willing to work across them
• and develop the knowledge needed to contribute beyond your current expertise.
• Above all, we value a learning attitude
• supported by practical evidence: understanding unfamiliar hardware, asking
• useful questions, testing assumptions, responding to review and applying what
• you learn. This sits alongside a sound foundation in embedded firmware
• engineering. We will consider candidates at Engineer and Senior Engineer
• levels, with technical ownership matched to demonstrated capability.

Key responsibilities

·Develop

• or extend motor controller firmware as assigned, working with controls and
• hardware colleagues on feedback, control execution, tuning and verification.
• The initial scope will reflect your experience and available technical support.[AJ1][R2]

·Work

• with electronics engineers on board bring-up and hardware–firmware integration;
• investigate issues using embedded debuggers, oscilloscopes, logic analysers and
• recorded data.[AJ3][R4]

·Develop

and maintain embedded firmware in C including drivers, hardware abstraction

layers and application logic.

·Translate

product and system requirements into firmware behaviour, interfaces and tests,

working with colleagues to resolve ambiguities and technical trade-offs.

·Implement

real-time behaviour using interrupts, timers, and peripheral hardware with

attention to timing, concurrency and resource constraints.

·Contribute

• firmware for IPS power management, including sensing, operating states,
• communications, diagnostics and fault handling, according to the agreed system
• architecture.

·Integrate

sensors and peripheral devices, implement communications interfaces and support

telemetry and real-time data acquisition across relevant products.

·Implement

appropriate protection responses, watchdogs, diagnostics and recovery

behaviour, and verify operation under normal and fault conditions.[AJ5][R6]

·Develop

proportionate automated tests and regression checks; contribute to

software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop testing where relevant.

·Participate

• in code and design reviews, maintain clear technical documentation, and
• contribute to version control, automated builds and controlled firmware
• releases.

·Investigate

• integration, production and field issues, and share findings and reusable
• improvements across the engineering team.
• Level of responsibility

Engineer

You

• will take responsibility for defined firmware features, drivers or integration
• activities within an agreed architecture. You should be able to progress
• routine development and debugging independently, explain your work in reviews
• and recognise when to seek support. Technical guidance will be needed when
• moving into unfamiliar areas, particularly motor control algorithms or complex
• power management behaviour. You will be supported by a team of fellow firmware
• engineers including Senior Engineers and Engineering Managers.

Senior Engineer[TD1][R2]

• You will independently own substantial firmware functionality or a
• defined embedded subsystem from requirements through verification and release.
• You should have evidence of delivering firmware into production or operational
• use, resolving difficult integration issues and making justified decisions
• about timing, reliability, maintainability and hardware interfaces.
• You will help shape the architecture for your scope, lead technical
• reviews and support other engineers through review and knowledge sharing. You
• will also help shape the team’s processes and practices. Seniority does not
• require prior expertise in every product domain, but it does require sound
• judgement about the limits of your knowledge and when specialist input is
• needed. This is a hands-on technical role; line management is not assumed.
• Useful additional
• experience
• The following would be advantageous.
• Motor control experience is particularly relevant, but candidates are not
• expected to have all of these skills.
• ·Motor control[TD3][R4]:BLDC [TD5]or PMSM [TD6][R7]drives,
• field-oriented control (FOC), trapezoidal control, PWM generation, synchronised
• current sampling, encoder or other feedback systems, and practical tuning and
• diagnostics.
• ·Power management: Firmware for power converters, battery
• charging, power-source management or generator interfaces, including sensing,
• operating states and protection.
• ·Sensors and peripherals: Drivers and integration for devices such as
• IMUs, GPS/GNSS receivers, range sensors or other measurement and peripheral
• hardware.
• ·Platforms and real-time systems: STM32, Texas Instruments, NXP or comparable
• MCUs; RTOS task design, synchronisation and timing analysis; embedded C++.
• ·Communications: CAN/CAN FD, UART, SPI, I²C or Ethernet,
• including protocol implementation, telemetry and integration between devices.
• ·Quality and automation: MISRA C or comparable coding guidelines,
• static analysis, Python or similar scripting, automated build and test
• pipelines, and software-in-the-loop or hardware-in-the-loop testing.
• ·Product delivery: Bootloaders, firmware update and recovery
• mechanisms, release management, production test or investigation of field
• issues.
• ·Application context: Uncrewed vehicles, robotics or other products
• combining embedded control, electronics and demanding operating conditions.
• ·C++: Experience in embedded C++ would be useful but
• not essential.
• If you are interested, please mail your updated resume to [email protected]

Requirements

Essential skills

and experience

You should be able to demonstrate

·Practical

• experience developing and debugging firmware in C for microcontroller-based
• systems, with an understanding of memory, data representation and resource
• constraints.

·Experience

• working close to hardware, such as developing drivers, configuring MCU
• peripherals or bringing up an embedded board. You should be able to use
• datasheets and schematics to investigate behaviour.

·Understanding

of real-time firmware, including interrupts, timing and shared data. Experience

may come from bare-metal systems, RTOS-based systems or both.

·Hands-on

• experience in at least one relevant area: motor control or another timing-critical
• embedded[TD1][R2] control application; or sensor, peripheral, communications and data acquisition
• firmware. You should be able to explain your contribution, design decisions and
• how you verified the result.

·Experience

• implementing and debugging embedded communications interfaces, with depth in
• interfaces relevant to your previous work rather than every protocol listed
• below.

·A

• systematic approach to troubleshooting, including forming and testing
• explanations, using measurements and distinguishing hardware, firmware and
• integration issues.

·An

approach to firmware quality that includes readable code, version control,

review and testing appropriate to the product and your level of responsibility.

·Evidence

• of learning unfamiliar technologies or domains and applying that learning in
• working firmware. Be prepared to discuss what you needed to learn, how you
• approached it and what changed as a result.

·Clear

• technical communication, willingness to seek and use feedback, and the ability
• to work constructively across engineering disciplines.
• A relevant degree in electronic
• engineering, embedded systems, computer engineering, mechatronics, robotics,
• physical or mathematical sciences, or equivalent practical experience, is
• appropriate. Assessment will focus on capability, engineering judgement and
• ability to learn rather than a fixed number of years or a particular
• qualification route.