Nocturnal→
Embedded Systems / Firmware Engineer at Nocturnal in Cambridge, MA
Skills
Job Description
At Nocturnal, believe sleep is not a passive state, but an active frontier where technology, data, and insights could converge to improve lives in profound ways.
By combining cutting-edge science and design, we are pushing boundaries of what's possible in sleep.
Nocturnal Inc. is building next-generation sleep technologies which augments human health, performance and well-being.
We’re looking for an engineer who can own the hardware–firmware stack end-to-end: from circuit design and sensor integration to low-power firmware, testing, and UX-aware embedded behavior. This is an in person position in Cambridge MA. The ideal candidate has experience taking hardware from prototype through production.
This is a hands-on role with real ownership and impact.
What You’ll Do
- Design and review schematics and PCB layouts for wearable electronics
- Select and integrate sensors (IMU, PPG, temperature, etc.)
- Develop robust, low-power firmware for nRF and/or STM MCUs
- Implement power management strategies (sleep states, battery optimization, energy profiling)
- Write clean, maintainable, well-documented embedded C/C++ code
- Bring up boards, debug hardware/firmware issues, and run validation tests
- Optimize BLE communication for performance and power
- Collaborate on device UX, haptics, indicators, and user interaction flows
- Support manufacturing readiness (DFM, testing procedures, revisions)
Required Qualifications
- 4+ years of experience in embedded systems development
- Strong experience with nRF (Nordic) and/or STM32 platforms
- Proficiency in embedded C/C++
- Solid understanding of low-power design for battery-powered devices
- Experience with BLE and wireless communication
- Ability to design, test, and debug custom PCBs
- Comfortable using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, JTAG/SWD debuggers
Nice to Have
- Experience with wearables, medical, or sleep tech devices
- Knowledge of Zephyr RTOS, FreeRTOS, or similar
- Sensor fusion or signal processing experience
- Familiarity with power profiling tools (Nordic Power Profiler, etc.)
- UX-driven embedded behavior (state machines, haptics, LEDs)
- Manufacturing, certification, or regulatory exposure (FCC, CE)
What We Offer
- Work on a cutting-edge sleep wearable with real user impact
- High ownership and technical autonomy
- Competitive salary / contract rate + equity (for full-time)
- Opportunity to shape both the product and engineering culture