Software Technician

San Francisco, CA

About the Position

Atoms is building the machines that power the next era of progress. We are transforming the physical world with Physical AI-real-world robots for industries like food, mining, and transport. Our systems are designed to understand, predict, and control the real world with precision, making complex physical operations more reliable, scalable, and productive.

We are looking for a hands-on Software Technician to play a critical role in getting hardware-software systems out the door. You'll be on the front lines of quality: testing, debugging, and validating both the hardware and software that power our products. This role is ideal for someone comfortable at the intersection of hardware and software and has experience troubleshooting issues like baud rate errors or wiring issues. We are looking for contributors who take pride in catching problems before they reach customers and are excited about building scalable systems.

Responsibilities

• Perform QC and bench tests on custom electronics
• Load software and firmware onto custom built devices
• Execute test suites across hardware and software systems; log results and flag anomalies
• Collaborate with Software engineers on process improvements and documentation to enable rapid scaling
• Debug failures across the full stack, from hardware faults to software misconfigurations, and work with engineering teams to drive resolution
• Maintain clear records of test outcomes, failure modes, and corrective action

Requirements

• 2+ years of software experience, with work on testing infrastructure, developer tools, or distributed systems
• Experience with Python and Bash Scripting
• Ability to read electrical schematics and understand hardware assemblies drawings
• Experience flashing firmware or loading OS images onto embedded targets
• Debugging and systems thinking - you'll be reasoning about failures across multiple functions
• Experience working with fast-paced engineering teams and unstructured environments
• Good written and verbal communication and computer skills (Google Suite, Excel)

Nice to Have

• Experience with robotics, autonomous vehicles, or other safety-critical systems
• Experience with simulation environments (Gazebo, CARLA, Isaac Sim, or proprietary)
• Familiarity with pub/sub messaging systems (ZMQ, ROS, DDS) and binary serialization formats (Cap'n Proto, Protobuf)
• Cloud infrastructure experience for parallel test execution (AWS/GCP, Kubernetes)
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop testing or real-time systems
• Performance engineering - Debugging and optimizing slow CI/test pipelines before

We Offer

• Competitive salary: $32.00 - $55.00 per hour
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance (multiple plans, incl. HSA options)
• Company-paid life and disability insurance (short- and long-term)
• Voluntary insurance: accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity
• Optional supplemental life insurance for self, spouse, and children
• Pet insurance discount (Fetch)
• 401(k)
• Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Flexible Spending Accounts (Healthcare, Dependent Care, Commuter)
• Time Off policies

Benefits are subject to change at the company's discretion. Atoms accepts applications on an ongoing basis.

About the Company

At Atoms, you’ll work on one of the defining challenges of our time-bringing automation into the physical world to drive real, lasting impact. We exist to uncover valuable unknown truths and turn them into progress, which means constantly pushing beyond what’s known and building what doesn’t yet exist. The work is ambitious and often challenging, but it’s grounded in a shared sense of purpose and a team committed to seeing it through together. Our work only matters if it serves others, and we know that meaningful progress depends on the trust of the people we serve and the strength of our team-so we invest in both, creating an environment where you can do your best work and grow.

This role is based in our San Francisco office. Atoms is a company driven by invention and continuous change - we are constantly reimagining our industries, building new products, and refining how we operate. We do our best work together. That’s why all of our office-based teams work onsite, five days a week.

Ready to join us as we serve those who serve others?

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