Firmware Engineer

Magical Toys is a San Francisco–based startup crafting voice-first, connected play experiences. Our current platform centers on an ESP32-S3–powered interactive toy with low-power wake-word, full-duplex audio, BLE / Wi-Fi onboarding, OTA updates, and delightful LED interactions—built to be safe, resilient, and fun.

About the Role

You’ll be the go-to firmware engineer advancing our ESP32 stack for real-time audio, connectivity, and low-power operation. You’ll ship features that make our characters feel alive : reliable wake-word, smooth streaming, robust provisioning, and battery-friendly behaviors. You’ll work closely with hardware, audio / DSP, and mobile to iterate rapidly on product.

What You’ll Do

• Develop and optimize ESP32 firmware (ESP-IDF + FreeRTOS) for connectivity, audio, and power management.
• Implement and harden Wi‑Fi (802.11) features including provisioning, secure transport, and reconnection logic.
• Integrate WebSockets (and related real-time channels) for low-latency device-cloud messaging.
• Contribute to real-time audio features : I²S pipeline, VAD / wake‑word (e.g., WakeNet), buffering, and playback.
• Enhance low-power behavior (light / deep sleep, wake sources) while meeting latency and UX targets.
• Build and maintain BLE flows (e.g., first-time onboarding, device info, diagnostics).
• Own OTA reliability (rollback, versioning, staged rollout) and on-device logging / metrics.
• Debug with logic analyzers / J-Link / serial trace; write crisp documentation and code reviews; collaborate cross-functionally.

Required Qualifications

Preferred Qualifications

Why Join Magical Toys?

To apply

Send your resume and a brief note on your most relevant ESP32 work (links to repos / demos welcome) to [email placeholder]. Magical Toys is an equal opportunity employer—diversity and inclusion are core to how we build.

#J-18808-Ljbffr