Embedded Software Engineer

Workstream is a mission-driven company building the all-in-one HR, payroll, and hiring platform for managing the hourly workforce. There are 2.7 billion hourly workers, making up 80% of the global workforce, but this market has been heavily underserved by technology and deserves better. Workstream has been purpose-built for the hourly workforce from day one so that these businesses and their employees can thrive.

Our customers include leading brands from multiple sectors, including Burger King, Carl's Jr./Hardee's, IHOP, KFC, and Culvers. We are a high growth series B company and quickly expanding our product portfolio to deliver on our vision. We are backed by legendary VCs and industry experts like Founders Fund, BOND, and Coatue.

In addition to our core business, Workstream is home to a small, fast-moving Robotics team focused on advancing the next generation of artificial intelligence and robotics. We partner with a leading AI and robotics company to produce high-quality, large-scale egocentric (first-person) video datasets that help train advanced AI models.

Our Robotics team develops scalable data collection and annotation pipelines that enable the efficient creation of high-quality training datasets, helping AI systems better understand human actions, environments, and everyday interactions. We're also building a new category of connected hardware designed to operate reliably throughout the day in thousands of homes and businesses. By combining cutting-edge data collection, automation, and hardware innovation, this team is helping shape the future of intelligent systems and real-world AI applications.

Grow With Us

We’re looking for an engineer who moves easily between embedded Linux, RTOS, and bare-metal MCU code, and who is happy where firmware meets hardware. You will own the software that makes our devices capture, record, and communicate, help bring up new boards and sensors alongside our EEs, and build the tooling a small team needs to move fast.

Day in the Life

Architect, implement, and test the on-device software that controls recording, sensors, storage, and power, and keeps it running reliably over long sessions.

Bring up and debug new hardware alongside our EE team: part selection, interface definition, driver development for new sensor modules, and board bring-up.

Dig into the open technical problems at the core of the device. Prototype the options, measure real behavior, and help decide what we build.

Own the device's interface to the rest of the system: the on-device API/SDK and protocols our app and cloud build against, kept clean, documented, and well tested.

Build the tooling and automation for firmware development, test, and calibration, so the team can iterate quickly and scale into production.

Who You Are

2-5 years shipping embedded software on real hardware that reached real users

Proficiency in C/C++ and Python, with exposure to embedded Linux (device drivers, device tree, the boot process) and/or bare-metal/RTOS firmware

Comfort at the hardware boundary: reading datasheets, bringing up boards, developing drivers for new sensor modules, and evaluating hardware tradeoffs

Comfortable using electrical test equipment (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers) and firmware build and debug tools

A bias toward reliability across a wide variety of settings and geographies, and a habit of testing thoroughly and measuring honestly

Passion for learning and building, often evidenced by side projects

B.S. in EE, CE, CS, or equivalent experience

Nice To Have

Cameras, camera interfaces (e.g., MIPI CSI-2), DSP/ISP, or video/media pipelines, especially handling multiple simultaneous streams.

MCU firmware and low-level bring-up, including bootloaders and an RTOS such as Zephyr or FreeRTOS.

Connectivity and protocols such as BLE, Wi-Fi, and USB.

Designing SDKs/APIs that another team consumes.

OTA, telemetry, or managing software across a fleet of connected devices.

CI/CD and test automation.

Experience shipping wearable or consumer hardware, and working directly with hardware/EE colleagues and contract manufacturers.

What We Offer

A mission-driven and value-based company dedicated to empower deskless workers and local businesses

An early employee opportunity at a Series B hyper-growth startup; work with the founding team and industry veterans to accelerate your career

Competitive salary and equity

Comprehensive health coverage: medical, dental, and vision. We pay 95% of your premiums for our employees and 85% for dependents

In office amenities and stocked kitchen

401K Plan

Pre-tax commuter benefits

Learning/development stipend

Flexible PTO

Salary Range

In compliance with the California Pay Transparency Law, the base salary range for this role is between $130,000 to $180,000 in Menlo Park. This range is not inclusive of our discretionary bonus or equity package. When determining a candidate’s compensation, we consider a number of factors including skillset, experience, …