Embedded Engineer - Motor Control Firmware

At Mentee Robotics, we are redefining humanoid automation with an AI-first approach - combining perception, reasoning, and dexterous manipulation into fully autonomous systems that continuously learn and adapt.   We are now expanding with a new robotics Engineering Center in China, working hand-in-hand with our engineering teams in headquarters. Its mission: to rapidly develop our next-generation full-size humanoid and bring it to life - a walking, working platform that becomes the foundation of our next generation of products. This is a small, senior, hands-on team where speed of iteration is the core value. We are looking for two hands-on Embedded Engineers to own everything that runs on the Motor Controller PCB - jointly with our Motion Control Engineer, who designs the control algorithms you will implement. This is close-to-the-metal, critical-path firmware: bare-metal real-time code where a missed deadline is a fallen robot. Who you are • A bare-metal firmware engineer who thinks in microseconds and interrupt priorities • Obsessive about determinism, correctness, and clean fault behavior • At home on the bench with a logic analyzer and an oscilloscope Responsibilities • Design and develop real-time firmware in C for the STM32-class MCU on the Motor Controller PCB - bare metal, no OS • Implement and optimize the control algorithms defined by the Motion Control Engineer: FOC commutation and current/velocity/position loops, with guaranteed loop timing • Own calibration routines (encoder offset, current sensing), protections, and fault handling (over-current, over-temperature, encoder loss) • Implement the EtherCAT/CAN slave stack and the joint-level communication API exposed to the robot's compute platform • Own bootloader, flashing, and fleet firmware-update flow across all joints • Work with high-speed peripherals: ADCs, DMA, timers/PWM, interrupts • Bring up new board revisions with the electrical engineer; debug with logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, and HIL setups • Take full ownership of your code - from bring-up to deployment on the walking robot Requirements • B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field • 8+ years of embedded firmware development in bare-metal, hard real-time systems • Strong proficiency in C and STM32 (or equivalent ARM Cortex-M) programming • Hands-on experience with motor control firmware (FOC, current/velocity/position loops, encoder interfaces) and/or industrial protocols (EtherCAT, CAN) • Excellent debugging skills in both code and hardware environments • Comfortable with schematics, datasheets, and bench instrumentation Advantages • Deep EtherCAT knowledge, including slave stack integration and real-time tuning • Experience with servo drives, drone ESCs, or robot joint controllers • Exposure to Python for test automation • Familiarity with MISRA C or structured safety-oriented code practices • Comfortable communicating technical topics in English with international teams