Senior Embedded/Firmware Engineer (freelance)

Join intent, a hardware-focused team designing connected devices for industry leaders, as a Senior Embedded/Firmware Engineer on a freelance basis. You'll build production firmware for wearables, audio, and health-tech platforms in a fully remote environment, with a real path to permanent employment if the fit proves strong.

Role Overview

This is a freelance, time-and-materials engagement where you contribute billable hours to genuine client projects in embedded systems. The first three months function as a trial period for both sides. If the collaboration works out—shaped by project scope, pipeline health, and business conditions—we'll offer you a permanent contract with fixed salary and comprehensive benefits. You're not a contractor parachuting into isolated sprints; you're part of our firmware engineering chapter and embedded in delivery squads.

Core Duties

• Architect and implement production firmware for connected devices spanning wearables, audio products, and medical-grade health technology
• Gather client requirements and translate them into firmware behavior that handles edge cases, temperature extremes, and power constraints
• Collaborate with mobile and backend engineers to ensure reliable Bluetooth communication and device-app synchronization
• Diagnose hardware-firmware integration problems, reading schematics and analyzing signals when code alone doesn't explain the behavior
• Drive engineering practices through code reviews, mentorship on firmware patterns, and knowledge sharing within your chapter
• Estimate work realistically, flag technical risks early, and course-correct before problems cascade
• Validate firmware releases and write documentation that makes sense three months after you ship it
• Incorporate AI tools into your daily workflow as engineering accelerators, not novelties

What We're Looking For

You're equally at home with a schematic and a C compiler. You've shipped real products on ESP32 or STM32. You question assumptions before committing to solutions and dig into hardware when the symptoms don't align with the code. You take ownership of what you touch. You speak up directly when something on a board isn't behaving, and you genuinely care how the finished device performs, not just whether the binary compiles. You treat AI as a serious tool, not a gimmick. If you're the type who wants to know exactly what to build each morning with no room for judgment, we're probably not the right fit. We need someone who's curious, who wants to understand the "why," and who'll push back when something doesn't make sense.

More About intent

Since 2008, intent has partnered with companies like Oura and BOSE to design and realize connected hardware products. We're a 60+ person team, fully distributed, backed by a16z and Founders Fund. Our focus: embedded systems are not afterthoughts. Bluetooth stacks, power budgets, sensor integration, over-the-air updates—firmware is where our products either succeed or fail. If you want to work in a place where embedded engineering is treated as a core discipline, not an add-on, you've found it.

How to Apply

To apply, complete your application directly on this page, or you'll be redirected to the employer's application platform to finish submitting there.