Staff Software Engineer Platform Networking

The Embedded Platform Software team designs and builds the foundational software infrastructure for next-generation surgical robotic systems. We are looking for a high-energy, talented Staff Embedded Software Engineer to join the Embedded Networking Software team, within the Multiport Platform Software group. If you’ve built in-vehicle networks, automotive middleware, or real-time robot communication stacks, your experience translates directly to what we do.
We are a small group that works in a focused, high-energy environment working on New Product Development. We believe in applying first principles thinking, data driven decision making, continuous learning, and systematic planning to deliver results and achieve our goals.
Are you passionate about technology?
Do you want to have a direct impact on helping people live better lives?
Are you interested in the medical applications of robotics?
Do you like building deterministic, distributed systems, like zonal vehicle networks or multi-node robot control stacks?
Does working in a multidisciplinary, systems-oriented design team sound exciting?
Your Role
You will be a technical leader on the team developing our flagship product, dV5. The team's focus is to enhance and extend the dV5 robotic embedded network across Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) layers 1–5, with a focus on PHYs, MACs, Ethernet switches, and the drivers that tie them together, and apply that deep understanding to new surgical robotic systems. The challenges will feel familiar to anyone who has built vehicle or robot networks: mixed-criticality traffic, precise time synchronization, and safety-critical determinism. You will own the architecture, set the multi-year technical direction, and grow the engineers around you.
Your Responsibilities
In your first year in this role, you will:
Design, develop, and deliver features architectures across the embedded network stack and help define the technical roadmap across:
Reliability, including redundancy and fault tolerance strategies
Performance architecture for growing data transfer needs: low latency switching, traffic shaping, queue management
Own the architecture and development of Ethernet MAC, PHY, and switch drivers (Linux and RTOS), including bring-up on new silicon and boards
Define and implement automotive Ethernet switch configuration: VLANs, QoS/priority mapping, ACLs/filtering, port mirroring, and static/dynamic forwarding tables
Implement and tune TSN features in switch hardware and drivers for safety-critical deterministic traffic
Set the technical direction and standards for Layer 2/Layer 3 software, Ethernet MAC and PHY drivers, and deterministic real-time paths for safety critical data, applying queueing theory
Lead design and code reviews, mentor senior and mid-level engineers, and raise the bar on design quality and debugging rigor while staying hands-on in the highest-risk code
Serve as the technical authority on hardware integration, and lead escalations on the hardest hardware-software networking failures (JTAG, GDB, protocol analyzers)
Drive alignment across cross functional teams such as FPGA, Electrical (board bring-up and signal integrity), Application Development, Algorithms, Clinical, and Manufacturing to negotiate requirements and resolve architectural tradeoffs
Influence build-versus-buy and Ethernet switch/PHY silicon selection, working directly with vendors, and make the case for investments that retire technical debt
Required Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree with 10+ years, or Master’s degree with 8+ years, of industry experience in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related discipline
Demonstrated technical leadership on complex systems: owning architecture, mentoring engineers, and influencing direction across organizational boundaries
A natural communicator with strong critical thinking, and clarity of thought who can explain architectural tradeoffs to engineers and executives alike
Expert networking fundamentals across the OSI stack, with deep expertise in L2/L3 (Ethernet switching, IP) and working knowledge of L1 (PHY), a solid understanding of TCP/IP stack internals and Ethernet switching fabric design, and expert C/C++ skills for embedded development
Deep experience architecting and delivering high-speed networking software in automotive, robotics, or industrial, including low-level Ethernet MAC/PHY driver development
Experience with Linux and embedded RTOS environments (e.g., FreeRTOS, ThreadX, Zephyr, QNX, VxWorks), with a strong understanding of memory management, concurrency, and interrupt handling
Demonstrated experience leveraging new tools and technology, such as AI coding assistants, to increase speed, and driving adoption across a team
Preferred Experience
Experience defining multi-generation technical strategy or platform roadmaps for a shipping hardware product
Strong hardware-software fluency: schematics, datasheets, reasoning across system abstractions
Hands-on experience configuring and writing drivers for managed Ethernet switch silicon (e.g., NXP SJA11xx, Marvell, Microchip, Broadcom), including register-level programming over SPI/MDIO/SMI
Hands-on experience with IEEE 802.1 TSN/AVB (802.1AS/gPTP, Qbv, Qav, Qci, CB/FRER), high-availability redundancy on real hardware, L2 switching (VLANs, QoS, segmentation), and Automotive Ethernet (100/1000BASE-T1, BASE-T1S), including zonal or domain controller architectures
Familiarity with communication middleware (DDS, SOME/IP, ROS 2) and how it maps onto L2 QoS/TSN configuration
Experience with real-time industrial or robotics networks such as EtherCAT, PROFINET IRT, or EtherNet/IP
Exposure to functional safety standards (such as IEC 62304, ISO 13485, ISO 14971, IEC 60601, ISO 26262) and embedded network security such as MACsec and IPsec

Skills
C++, Linux

Employment type
Full-time

Work arrangement
No