Nuclera is a venture-backed biotech company headquartered in Cambridge, UK with significant operations in Boston, USA. Nuclera’s mission is to accelerate discovery by enabling rapid, easy access to functional proteins essential for drug discovery research. Our eProtein Discovery™ benchtop system accelerates protein expression and purification optimization in research labs.

As a Senior Embedded Software Engineer, you will be a key contributor to the development of our cutting-edge instrument platform. You will take ownership of the design and implementation of complex embedded systems, from low-level hardware interaction to high-level application logic. This role requires a versatile engineer who is comfortable working across different domains, including bare-metal firmware, RTOS, and embedded Linux, to build a reliable, scalable, and high-performance system.

About the role

• Architect, develop, and maintain real-time bare-metal and RTOS-based firmware for ARM cores, ensuring robust control of hardware peripherals.
• Develop and optimize low-level drivers for communication protocols including SPI, I2C, UART, USB, and Ethernet.
• Oversee the full lifecycle of mixed-signal PCBA development, from requirements and component selection to schematic capture, layout, and vendor management.
• Design and implement software for advanced System-on-Chip (SoC) platforms, ensuring seamless integration between processors and programmable logic.
• Develop multi-threaded C/C++ applications on embedded Linux for system control, data processing, and communication with other system components.
• Implement and optimize complex algorithms for signal processing and real-time control.
• Lead board bring-up, debugging, and hardware-software integration efforts.
• Implement and maintain CI/CD pipelines for embedded software delivery and contribute to production software tooling.

Requirements

Essentials:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronic Engineering, or a related field.
• 5+ years of professional experience in embedded software development.
• Expert proficiency in C and C++ for bare-metal, RTOS, and embedded Linux environments.
• Strong experience with Embedded Linux (e.g., Yocto) and real-time operating systems.
• Proven experience in board bring-up, hardware-software integration, and debugging using tools like oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and JTAG/SWD.
• Proficiency in Python for scripting, tooling, or testing.
• Proficiency with version control (Git) and familiarity with CI/CD workflows.
• Advanced knowledge of hardware-software interaction and communication protocols.

Desirable:

• Experience in the life sciences, biotech, or medical device industries.
• Experience with schematic capture and PCB layout tools (e.g., Altium, KiCad, Eagle).
• Experience with embedded systems that incorporate image processing or machine learning.
• Development of desktop or embedded GUI applications (e.g., using Qt).
• Familiarity with cloud-connected embedded systems and backend integration.
• Knowledge of standards and regulations relating to EMC and safety for electronics.

Benefits

What we offer:

In addition to competitive salaries, we offer a range of benefits including:

• Company bonus scheme of 5%
• Life insurance
• Private medical insurance and cash plan
• 25 days' annual leave + Bank Holidays
• Enhanced employer's pension contributions
• Enhanced maternity and paternity Leave
• Investment in professional development and learning
• Access to amenities on Vision Park and in Histon
• Fresh fruit, tea, coffee, and snacks in the office
• Organised team events