Firmware / Software Engineer

About Build AI

Build AI is the data hyperscaler for Physical AI. We co-design hardware, collection, infrastructure, and research to scale the in-the-wild physical labor dataset by orders of magnitude. We learn from humans doing the real job, in real environments. Inflecting revenue, backed by top-tier investors and staffed by leading engineers, Build is becoming the bottleneck to solving physical labor.

Job Summary

We're hiring firmware/software in Shenzhen for the devices that record physical labor. The job is the path from sensor to bits leaving the device: capture, storage, reliability, and enough software that a factory team can flash, test, and ship. You sit next to PCB and mechanical, not in a pure software org.

Key Responsibilities

• Own firmware end-to-end on collection devices: boot, camera capture, storage, upload, recovery when the field is messy
• Bring up new boards with PCB: clocks, buses (I2C, SPI, UART, USB), cameras, power — read the schematic, use a scope, close the bug
• Build flashing, factory programming, and test software so we can make devices in volume (HIL or production validation a plus)
• Develop diagnostics, logging, and enough host-side glue that SF data infra can ingest without a snowflake per SKU
• Optimize for reliability and throughput, not a demo that dies after an hour
• Work with SF software (data infra, pipelining) on the device-to-cloud contract

You may be a good fit if you have (Must-have qualifications)

• You've shipped firmware on real hardware, in C/C++/Rust or similar, and you can debug with a scope and a log
• Experience with embedded architectures and IO (I2C, SPI, UART, USB or wireless), plus cameras, storage, and power
• Comfortable reading schematics and working with EE on bring-up
• You would rather make 10,000 devices that work than one that is clever

Strong candidates may also have experience with (Nice-to-have qualifications)

• Software beyond firmware: factory tools, Python/Go to glue test and flash, simple device apps
• OTA, failure-tolerant upload, or fleet observability
• Delivered at least one project from prototype through production
• Fine in Shenzhen and in factories. Mandarin useful. English enough to work with SF

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision packages with generous premium coverage
• $500 per month credit for waiving medical benefits
• Housing subsidy of $2k per month for those living within walking distance of the office
• Relocation support for those moving to San Francisco (Financial District) or Shenzhen (Nanshan)
• Various wellness benefits covering fitness, mental health, and more
• Daily lunch and dinner in our office
• Unlimited compute budget subject to ROI justification
• Travel

How we're different

Build believes in the Bitter Lesson (http://www.incompleteideas.net/IncIdeas/BitterLesson.html). We are betting early on learning from real human work at massive scale, and that the economies of scale of collection beat extra sensors and extra fidelity. Our addressable market is all physical labor, unlike many of our competitors.

We are a fully in-person team in San Francisco (Financial District) and Shenzhen (Nanshan), and greatly value engineering skills. We do not have boundaries between engineering and research, and we expect all of our technical staff to contribute to both and work across disciplines as needed.

Build AI is an equal opportunity employer. We review every application. If you do not meet every bullet, still apply. Questions: [email protected]