Foresite Labs · 1 day ago
Principal Engineer, Embedded Systems
San Diego, CA
Full-time
Onsite
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
10+ years expForesite Labs is a venture-backed biotechnology company based in San Diego, focused on developing novel technologies for disease detection and management. They are seeking a Principal Embedded Systems Engineer to take ownership of their embedded platform, leading technical direction, solving complex system-level problems, and working hands-on in the lab.
BiopharmaBiotechnologyHealth CareMedical
Responsibilities
Own the embedded system architecture across firmware and hardware boundaries
Define platform-level approaches for MCU selection, peripheral usage, and communication topology
Establish standards for firmware structure, BSPs, drivers, and hardware abstraction
Act as the escalation point for complex bring-up and system-level failures
Influence electrical and mechanical design decisions to ensure robust embedded integration
Lead first-power-on and first-silicon bring-up of new hardware
Configure clocks, memory, boot modes, power domains, and pin multiplexing
Design and review low-level firmware, including BSPs and peripheral drivers
Architect and debug communication interfaces: SPI, I²C, UART, CAN / CAN-FD, Ethernet (as applicable), PWM, GPIO, ADC/DAC
Architect, configure, and debug: Quadrature encoder / decoder interfaces, Pulse train generators, timers, capture/compare subsystems, TTL signaling
Lead integration of distributed embedded systems with many nodes
Debug complex hardware/firmware interactions involving timing, noise, and signal integrity
Use oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and signal generators to diagnose system-level issues
Develop bring-up plans, validation strategies, and debug tooling
Define observability and test hooks for long-term maintainability
Perform hands-on electrical debugging and board-level troubleshooting
Review schematics and PCB layouts with a firmware- and testability-first mindset
Identify power, grounding, clocking, and signal integrity risks early
Solder, rework, and modify prototypes as needed
Design simple custom PCBs and breakout boards
Wire and adapt MCU evaluation kits to custom system hardware
Support rapid iteration cycles typical of an early-stage startup
Qualification
Required
BS/MS in Computer Science or Engineering
10+ years of embedded systems experience or equivalent demonstrated depth
Proven ownership of MCU bring-up on new or custom hardware
Expert-level embedded C/C++ skills
Deep experience with real-time or high-performance MCUs (NXP, Infineon, STM32 ecosystems)
Strong understanding of digital and analog electronics
Strong understanding of clocking, timing, DMA, and interrupt systems
Strong understanding of encoder interfaces and precision timing subsystems
Exceptional ability to reason from datasheets, schematics, and signals on the wire
Expert-level comfort with oscilloscopes and logic analyzers
Experience debugging noisy, high-speed, or timing-critical signals
Comfortable soldering and performing board-level rework
Ability to independently wire, modify, and debug complex prototypes
Working knowledge of PCB design tools (KiCad, Altium, Eagle) and layout tradeoffs
Preferred
Experience architecting multi-controller or distributed embedded systems
Background in robotics, industrial automation, or precision instrumentation
RTOS experience (FreeRTOS, Zephyr, etc.)
Experience taking hardware from prototype through manufacturing
Familiarity with EMC/ESD and field reliability issues
Benefits
Competitive compensation and equity package
Comprehensive benefits
Flexibility to support work-life integration
Company
Foresite Labs
Foresite Labs is a biotechnology company. It is a sub-organization of Foresite Capital.
11-50 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Foresite Labs has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (2)
2022 (1)
Funding
Current Stage
Early StageLeadership Team
Alex Blocker
CTO and Chief Data Scientist
Uplaksh Kumar
COO Foresite Labs and Venture Partner Foresite Capital
Recent News
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