(Senior) Electronics Engineer, Hardware & Firmware (f/m/d)

<h1>About TACTILIA</h1><p style="min-height:1.5em">At TACTILIA, we are building the industry-ready robotic hand that closes one of the biggest gaps in Physical AI. Spun out of Schunk, the global market leader in gripping technology, we combine a decade of robotic-hand expertise and real industrial access with the speed and ambition of a deep-tech startup.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">This isn't a research project waiting for its first customer. We already have a product, customers are ready to use it, and we are launching now. Your work will directly shape the electronics, actuators, and embedded systems that make that possible.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">You will join at the moment when the hard engineering questions become real product decisions: how do we make a highly capable robotic hand reliable, manufacturable, serviceable, and simple enough to deploy on a real shop floor?</p><h1>The Role</h1><p style="min-height:1.5em">As an Electronics Engineer (Embedded Hardware &amp; Firmware) at TACTILIA Robotics, you will help design and build the physical and low-level intelligence that brings our robotic hands to life.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">You will own the complete embedded hardware and firmware stack—from schematics and high-density multilayer layouts to the real-time C/C++ firmware running directly on the metal.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">Fitting multiple drives, high-density tactile arrays, and power electronics into a hand-sized volume means every decision is a tight balance of space, thermals, signal integrity, and manufacturability. You will work closely with the CTO and cross-functional team, moving smoothly between architecture, circuit design, and the lab to solve complex problems where physics meets code.</p><h1>What you will do</h1><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Own the hardware architecture.</strong> Design schematics and high-density, multilayer PCB layouts (mixed-signal, tight thermal/EMC constraints) built for modularity across product variants—not a one-off prototype.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Build control hardware and firmware that can't miss a beat.</strong> Search, evaluate, test, and integrate actuator hardware alongside motor drivers for compact servo drives; write deterministic real-time firmware (C/C++) for control loops, timing-critical execution, limit monitoring, and fault handling.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Choose the right sensor and make the data mean something.</strong> Search, evaluate, test, and integrate sensor hardware for tactile sensing and proprioception (position and force); design low-noise readout electronics, signal conditioning, filtering, and calibration pipelines to deliver clean, low-latency telemetry to the software stack.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Ship rock-solid bootloaders and drivers.</strong> Build field-updatable bootloaders, low-level drivers, and secure, fail-safe update strategies across product generations—documented and reliable, not tribal knowledge.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Build interfaces customers actually want to integrate.</strong> Implement and maintain fieldbus and hardware communication layers (EtherCAT, CANopen, Ethernet) aligned cleanly with higher-level software and robot controllers.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Debug on real hardware.</strong> Own the lab bring-up process from first power-on to full validation. Trace issues across the hardware, firmware, and mechanical boundaries with scopes, logic analyzers, and thermal imaging.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Build security into the product from day one.</strong> Support Cyber Resilience Act compliance by integrating secure boot, signed firmware updates, and hardware-level trust mechanisms early in the design cycle.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Build for series production, not just the lab.</strong> Design for manufacturing and test (DFM/DFT), select resilient supply-chain components with second sources, run EMC pre-compliance, and drive hardware through production ramp-up.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Work across the whole team.</strong> Tight loop with Mechanics, Software, and System Applications—translating mechanical and control requirements into robust, deployable electronics.</p></li></ul><h1>What you bring</h1><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">A degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics, or a related field.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">5–10 years of experience developing embedded hardware and firmware for mechatronic products, including at least one product taken into series production.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Proven expertise in schematic capture and multilayer PCB layout (Altium, KiCad, or similar), specifically for space-constrained, mixed-signal designs.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Strong C/C++ skills on bare-metal or RTOS (ARM Cortex-M or similar) with a deep understanding of timing, concurrency, memory, and register-level hardware control.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Hands-on experience with BLDC/DC motor driver design, current/velocity/position control loops, and low-level sensor interfacing.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">A strong hardware mindset: you enjoy lab bring-up, signal-integrity debugging, and getting to the bottom of transient issues with a scope or logic analyzer.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Fluent English; German is a plus, not a requirement.</p></li></ul><h1>Bonus</h1><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Miniature electronics, high-density PCB packaging, or tight thermal constraints</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Tactile, force/torque, or contact-rich sensor arrays</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Real-time fieldbuses (EtherCAT, CANopen)</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Product security: secure boot, signed firmware, CRA, IEC 62443</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Functional safety standards (Machinery Regulation, ISO/TS 15066)</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><p style="min-height:1.5em">The next chapter of robotics won't be built in a lab. It will be built by people who care about what happens when technology meets the real world.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">At TACTILIA, you'll work on one of the hardest open problems in robotics: giving machines the dexterity, reliability, and robustness they need to interact with the physical world at industrial scale.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">The technology is taking shape. The team is being built. And the standards for robotic hands and their skills are still wide open.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">That means your decisions will have a lasting impact — not just on a product, but on what comes next for Physical AI.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Build the hand. Define the standard. Shape what comes next.</strong></p><p style="min-height:1.5em">If you're excited by the challenge of building robotic hands that work reliably in the real world, we'd love to hear from you.</p><p>Find more <a href="https://www.arbeitnow.com/english-speaking-jobs">English Speaking Jobs in Germany</a> on Arbeitnow</a>