Mid Embedded Engineer

Onsite 5 days a week – Chiswick, London. We’re hiring a Mid Embedded Engineer to help develop, test, debug, and integrate the electronics and firmware systems at the heart of the HoloDrive platform and help bring our ambitious first product to market.

About HoloMem: At HoloMem, we’re building the next generation of mass data storage hardware; highly efficient, long life, and ultra durable. Our pioneering and patented holographic technology encodes data as light within advanced polymers, enabling a resilient and future fit alternative to today’s short lived and energy intensive data storage infrastructure. Over the past 24 months HoloMem has graduated from both the Intel Ignite and Deeptech Labs accelerators, been awarded two Innovate UK Smart Grants, closed a seed+ funding round, and most recently deployed a working HoloDrive prototype to a live data centre to prove the robustness of our system. Off the back of our breakthrough partnership with BDT, the world’s largest tape library manufacturer, we now begin the transition from prototype to product, maturing our validated system into a mass‑produced technology platform that enables state of the art data storage performance at scale. We have ambitious plans, and we are now scaling up our West London based team to enable them. Join us.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• You will work hands‑on across embedded software, electronics, test rigs, and prototype systems in a fast‑moving R&D environment.
• You will develop and maintain embedded systems and tooling that enable reliable experimentation, rapid iteration, and repeatable system performance.
• Working at the interface of electronics, firmware, optics, and software, you will lead bring‑up, debugging, and preventative maintenance for defined rigs, boards, and prototype subsystems.
• You will also contribute to HoloDrive product integration by helping translate experimental systems into more robust, scalable, and maintainable engineering solutions.
• This role requires practical embedded engineering judgement, strong debugging discipline, and the ability to make progress when requirements are still evolving.

The Specifics About the Role:

• This role is suited to a mid‑level embedded engineer who can demonstrate the ability to:
• Develop, test, and debug embedded software for prototype and product‑adjacent systems.
• Own defined embedded workstreams from implementation through bring‑up, validation, and documentation.
• Support the design, integration, and maintenance of precision electronic and electromechanical systems.
• Work with microcontrollers, sensors, motors, encoders, drivers, and communication interfaces.
• Improve the repeatability, reliability, and maintainability of experimental platforms.
• Create practical tools, scripts, or test routines that improve engineering speed and system visibility.
• Diagnose issues across firmware, electronics, mechanical interfaces, and lab setup.
• Collaborate with electronics, optics, software, and product teams to integrate embedded systems into wider prototypes.
• Work hands‑on in our Chiswick office and R&D lab.

Who You Are:

• You are a practical, curious embedded engineer who enjoys working at the boundary between electronics and software.
• You are comfortable debugging real hardware, writing reliable firmware, and taking responsibility for defined technical deliverables.
• You are not expected to have solved every problem before, but you should be able to reason clearly, test systematically, communicate uncertainty, and make sound engineering decisions without needing constant direction.
• You are likely to enjoy this role if you like building things that have to work in the real world: motors that move repeatably, sensors that produce trustworthy data, rigs that stay reliable, firmware that fails predictably, and test tools that help the wider team move faster.

Required Experience:

• 2–3 years’ industry experience in electronics, embedded systems, mechatronics, robotics, instrumentation, automation, or a related field.
• Degree‑level background in electronics, embedded systems, mechatronics, physics, robotics, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience writing, testing, and debugging C/C++ for embedded systems.
• Hands‑on experience with microcontroller‑based systems such as ESP32, STM32, Teensy, Raspberry Pi, or similar.
• Experience integrating peripherals and bringing up embedded systems on real hardware.
• Practical experience working with motors, encoders, sensors, or other electromechanical systems.
• Understanding of precision, timing, control, and repeatability considerations in embedded systems.
• Familiarity with Linux fundamentals, preferably Debian‑based systems.
• Ability to read schematics and support electronics bring‑up using tools such as oscilloscopes, logic analysers, and multimeters.
• Working knowledge of common communication protocols such as I²C, SPI, UART, or CAN.
• Experience debugging across hardware and embedded software in an R&D, prototyping, robotics, instrumentation, automation, or product development environment.
• Clear communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively within a multidisciplinary engineering team.
• Experience using electronics design tools such as KiCad, Altium, or EasyEDA.
• Exposure to PCB design, schematic capture, layout, or design‑for‑bring‑up considerations.
• Exposure to digital signal processing.
• Exposure to FPGA design or integration.
• Familiarity with PCIe, SAS, or other high‑speed serial interfaces.
• Experience with Python or other high‑level languages for automation, testing, data analysis, or hardware control.
• Exposure to optics, photonics, imaging systems, precision instrumentation, or scientific hardware.
• Experience improving reliability, maintainability, or repeatability of lab rigs or prototype platforms.
• Experience working in a fast‑paced R&D, prototyping, or hardware startup environment.

Benefits At HoloMem:

• 25 days annual leave.
• Employer pension contributions.
• A collaborative, knowledgeable team working on deeply technical, world‑positive problems.

HoloMem is an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and are committed to building an inclusive environment for all.