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Salary: USD 235,000 - 300,000 / annual
Peak Energy is developing sodium-ion battery systems for grid-scale renewable energy storage. The company is backed by strategic investors including TDK Ventures, Eclipse Ventures, and GM Ventures, with a leadership team drawn from Tesla, Northvolt, Apple, Powin, Enovix, Zipline, Solid Power, and Fluence.
You will lead the embedded software team building firmware for Peak's gigawatt-scale energy storage systems. This is a hands-on leadership role: you'll manage approximately 6 embedded and firmware engineers while continuing to contribute directly to critical firmware architecture, safety-critical code paths, and hardware bring-up. The role is explicitly designed as "player-coach" — strong embedded engineering ability is the primary qualification. You need to be someone your team learns from technically, not just a calendar manager.
Technical responsibilities include setting the technical direction and architecture for Peak's embedded software stack across the ESS platform; contributing hands-on to critical firmware code (real-time C++ RTOS-based systems targeting microcontrollers, safety-critical BMS logic, and supervisory control); owning the toughest technical calls around architectural choices, safety-case design, RTOS selection, hardware interface design, and real-time performance; leading code reviews on high-risk paths and setting coding standards; driving hardware bring-up, system integration, validation, and field-support engineering; and representing embedded software in cross-functional forums with electrical, systems, controls, and hardware teams.
Leadership responsibilities include hiring and building the embedded team, coaching engineers on career growth, building a culture of engineering rigor, and owning the firmware roadmap end-to-end. You'll be the person the CTO turns to for hard technical calls on the embedded side of the platform. As Peak scales toward Q1 2027 production at its Sacramento factory, the embedded team's output is directly on the critical path — this role carries real stakes and real ownership.
The company is flexible on title and level based on candidate strengths; the role can range from Principal Embedded Engineer + Team Lead through Director, depending on the candidate. Strong embedded engineering skills are non-negotiable; leadership scope will flex to fit.
Requirements (from posting):
- Deep expertise in embedded systems, real-time firmware, and microcontroller development
- Proven experience with C/C++ in resource-constrained environments
- Strong background in RTOS-based systems, safety-critical code, and hardware bring-up
- Experience leading and mentoring embedded engineering teams
- Demonstrated ability to own technical architecture and make high-stakes design decisions
- Cross-functional collaboration skills with electrical, systems, and hardware teams
- Track record of shipping production firmware at scale
