Embedded Firmware Engineer - Radiation Detection

How you will make an impact 

At Thermo Fisher Scientific, our mission is to enable our customers to make the world safer. As an Embedded Firmware Engineer, you will help develop and deliver the embedded software that powers next-generation handheld radiation detection and identification systems used in public safety, dosimetry, environmental monitoring, and emergency response. 

You will play a key role in translating advanced sensing technologies and system concepts into reliable, field-ready products by designing, developing, and integrating robust firmware for embedded platforms. Working closely with radiation scientists, electrical engineers, systems engineers, and software teams, you will help ensure our instruments perform accurately and reliably in demanding real-world environments. 

This role is well suited for an early-career engineer with strong embedded software fundamentals and hands-on exposure to radiation detection, spectroscopy, scientific instrumentation, or sensor signal processing through graduate research, internships, co-ops, or prior employment. 

Position Summary 

We are seeking an Embedded Firmware Engineer to design, develop, test, and maintain firmware for next-generation radiation detection products. The role requires strong embedded C/C++ skills, microcontroller-based development, and familiarity with real-time systems and hardware interfaces. The ideal candidate is comfortable working close to the hardware and has enough radiation-detection or signal-processing background to understand detector data, calibration, and measurement behavior. Experience with Renesas platforms is a plus, but not required. 

Experience with radiation instrumentation, spectroscopy, detector signal processing, Python-based analysis, or connected embedded products is a strong plus. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Design, develop, debug, and maintain embedded firmware using C/C++ for microcontroller-based radiation detection systems. 

• Develop firmware running on real-time operating systems, including task scheduling, inter-task communication, timing, synchronization, and resource management. 

• Bring up and integrate firmware on microcontroller-based platforms, including peripheral configuration, board support packages, bootloaders, and device drivers; experience with Renesas platforms is a plus. 

• Work closely with electrical engineering and radiation science teams to support hardware bring-up, detector/electronics integration, board validation, and root-cause analysis. 

• Develop and maintain low-level drivers for interfaces such as I2C, SPI, UART, USB, CAN, Ethernet, GPIO, ADC, PWM, and similar embedded peripherals. 

• Support implementation and integration of radiation measurement functions such as detector calibration, pulse/event processing, spectral data handling, count-rate processing, alarm logic, and detector health/status monitoring. 

• Analyze detector data, spectra, and acquired signals with scientists and systems engineers to troubleshoot instrument performance and translate validated algorithms or calibration methods into efficient embedded implementations. 

• Develop or use Python, MATLAB, or similar analysis tools for firmware verification, detector characterization, calibration studies, and test automation. 

• Participate in firmware architecture, design reviews, code reviews, and technical decision-making. 

• Implement robust, maintainable, and testable firmware for commercial radiation detection and industrial embedded products. 

• Debug complex firmware and hardware interactions using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, JTAG/SWD debuggers, and other lab equipment. 

• Support integration of embedded systems with higher-level software, detector-processing functions, connectivity stacks, and cloud-based services. 

• Develop unit, integration, and system-level test strategies for embedded firmware. 

• Create and maintain technical documentation, including requirements, design specifications, test plans, and release notes. 

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality products on schedule. 

Required Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Nuclear Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related technical discipline with 5 years in related field.

• Strong programming experience in embedded C or C++. 

• Understanding of embedded systems concepts including interrupts, timers, DMA, memory management, bootloaders, power management, and communication protocols. 

• Familiarity with real-time embedded systems or RTOS concepts such as task scheduling, synchronization, inter-task communication, and resource management. 

• Hands-on experience with microcontrollers, hardware/software integration, or laboratory instrumentation. 

• Experience with firmware debugging tools such as JTAG/SWD, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, or protocol analyzers. 

• Familiarity with common embedded communication interfaces including SPI, I2C, UART, USB, CAN, Ethernet, GPIO, and ADC-based acquisition. 

• Exposure to radiation detection, spectroscopy, radiation instrumentation, detector signal processing, or related sensor systems through coursework, research, internships, or professional experience. 

• Ability to read schematics and work closely with hardware engineers during board bring-up and troubleshooting. 

• Strong analytical, debugging, and problem-solving skills, with excellent written and verbal communication skills. 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Master’s degree or experience involving embedded systems, radiation detection, spectroscopy, nuclear instrumentation, signal processing, or sensor electronics. 

• Experience developing firmware for an RTOS such as FreeRTOS, ThreadX, Zephyr, embOS, or similar. 

• Experience with Renesas RA, RX, RL78, RZ, or other commercial microcontroller platforms and associated SDKs, BSPs, or IDEs. 

• Familiarity with radiation detector technologies such as scintillators/SiPMs, semiconductor detectors, gamma-ray spectroscopy, neutron detection, or dosimetry. 

• Experience with detector calibration, digital pulse processing, spectral analysis, count-rate processing, neutron/gamma discrimination, or related radiation measurement algorithms. 

• Experience using Python, MATLAB, or similar tools for detector data analysis, test automation, calibration, or algorithm prototyping. 

• Experience working with ADC data, digitizers, detector waveforms, spectra, or event-based sensor data. 

• Experience with secure boot, firmware update mechanisms, device provisioning, certificates, encryption, or embedded cybersecurity. 

• Experience with connectivity protocols such as MQTT, TCP/IP, BLE, Wi-Fi, or cellular, or integrating embedded firmware with Linux/cloud-connected systems. 

• Experience with automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, static analysis, or code quality tools for embedded software. 

• Experience in regulated, industrial, scientific instrumentation, medical, life sciences, or other high-reliability product environments. 

Desired Attributes 

• Deep technical curiosity and a hands-on approach to solving embedded problems involving sensors, electronics, and real-world measurement data. 

• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with cross-functional teams. 

• Strong ownership mindset with attention to quality, reliability, and long-term maintainability. 

• Comfortable working in a fast-paced engineering environment with evolving requirements. 

• Ability to learn quickly from experienced firmware engineers and radiation scientists and contribute to strong firmware development practices. 

Example Technology Stack 

• Languages: C, C++, Python 

• RTOS: FreeRTOS, ThreadX, Zephyr, or similar 

• Chipsets: Renesas RA, RX, RL78, RZ, or similar embedded microcontroller platforms 

• Tools: Renesas e² studio, IAR, GCC, JTAG/SWD debuggers, Git, Python-based test/analysis tools 

• Interfaces: SPI, I2C, UART, USB, CAN, Ethernet, GPIO, ADC 

• Radiation/Measurement: detector calibration, spectra/event data, pulse/count processing, detector diagnostics 

• Cloud/Edge: AWS IoT Greengrass, AWS IoT Core, MQTT (plus)