Firmware Engineer
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Firmware Engineer develops the programmable content in electronic hardware devices. Works for a hardware company developing software for each hardware platform. Alters, organizes and models the functionality of software for a variety of industries, including the automotive, health care and consumer electronics industries.
Job Outlook
There were 118 Firmware Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 6455 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Computer Systems Engineer / Architect industry, which includes the Firmware Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Firmware Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $114,416.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $103,074.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Firmware Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $94,332.
Education and Experience
Posted Firmware Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 71.94% |
| Master's Degree | 33.69% |
| Doctoral Degree | 7.22% |
| Other | 0.81% |
Posted Firmware Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 15.05% |
| 3 to 5 years | 50.86% |
| 6 to 8 years | 17.4% |
| 9+ years | 16.68% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Firmware Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication (37.13%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (21.07%)
- Problem Solving (20%)
- Management (13.42%)
- Innovation (11.77%)
- Self-Motivation (10.89%)
- Leadership (10.69%)
- Verbal Communication Skills (9.02%)
- Planning (8.71%)
- Research (8.58%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Firmware Development (30.21%)
- Embedded Firmware (26.64%)
- Electrical Engineering (44.63%)
- C (Programming Language) (55.05%)
- C++ (Programming Language) (52.02%)
- Software Development (21.35%)
- Linux (22.96%)
- Python (Programming Language) (34.33%)
- Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) (20.89%)
- Computer Science (46.01%)
- Embedded Software (23.41%)
- Embedded Systems (41.18%)
- Firmware (94.51%)
- Embedded C (8.81%)
- Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (14.51%)
- Debugging (54.28%)
- Computer Engineering (37.3%)
- Real-Time Operating Systems (26.41%)
- Microcontrollers (23.19%)
- Bare Metal (11%)
- I2C (25.97%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Git (Version Control System) (15.08%)
- Agile Methodology (13.41%)
- Oscilloscope (17.75%)
- Automation (10.53%)
- Unit Testing (11.79%)
- Algorithms (19.05%)
- Printed Circuit Board (5.51%)
- Test Automation (8.58%)
- Control Systems (3.82%)
- C# (Programming Language) (6.44%)
- JIRA (6.07%)
- Digital Signal Processing (11.76%)
- Perl (Programming Language) (4.43%)
- Electronic Engineering (3.95%)
- Integration Testing (4.35%)
- Programming Tools (5.82%)
- Communications Protocols (14.57%)
- Electronics (7.75%)
- Operating Systems (19%)
- Device Drivers (11.03%)
- Linux On Embedded Systems (8.98%)
- Version Control (14.19%)
- Test Planning (11.28%)
- PCI Express (9.16%)
- Peripheral Devices (8.02%)
- Code Review (10.56%)
- Software Engineering (22.46%)
- Simulations (11.57%)
- Application Specific Integrated Circuits (3.77%)
- Systems Design (7.85%)
- Project Management (8.56%)
- Logic Analyzer (11.42%)
- MATLAB (7.49%)
- TCP/IP (8.53%)
- New Product Development (19.65%)
- USB (13.93%)
- Signal Processing (4.88%)
- Programming Languages (8.38%)
- Prototyping (7.99%)
- Software Design (6.36%)
- Systems Architecture (5.1%)
- Verilog (9.59%)
- VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) (11.79%)
- Serial Peripheral Interface (26.86%)
- Internet Of Things (IoT) (7.94%)
- Scripting (15.58%)
- Sensors (9.11%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Board Bring-Up (4.23%)
- ARM Architecture (5.35%)
- Boot Loaders (4.09%)
- Embedded Operating Systems (2.68%)
- Hardware Description Language (HDL) (4.76%)
- General-Purpose Input/Output (3.53%)
- FreeRTOS (4.06%)
- Joint Test Action (IEEE Standards) (6.11%)
- Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (3.38%)
- Pulse-Width Modulation (1.64%)
- System On A Chip (2.31%)
- Stm32 (1.29%)
- Vivado (4.07%)
- ModelSim (2.6%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Firmware Development (35.14%)
- Board Bring-Up (4.92%)
- Microcontrollers (26.97%)
- I2C (30.2%)
- C++ (Programming Language) (60.49%)
- Debugging (63.12%)
- Embedded C (10.25%)
- Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (3.94%)
- FreeRTOS (4.72%)
- Hardware Description Language (HDL) (5.53%)
- Joint Test Action (IEEE Standards) (7.11%)
- Real-Time Operating Systems (30.71%)
- System On A Chip (2.68%)
- Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (16.87%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Firmware Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Embedded Firmware Engineer
- Embedded Software/Firmware Engineer
- Firmware Developer
- Staff Firmware Engineer
- Software/Firmware Engineer
- Firmware Test Engineer
- Firmware Development Engineer
- Firmware Design Engineer
- Firmware Engineering Intern
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Hardware Engineer (General)
- Hardware Design Engineer
- Signal Processing Engineer
- Hardware Test Engineer
- Electronics Engineer (General)
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Firmware Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Actalent (362)
- Apple (287)
- Zt Systems (156)
- Intel (131)
- AMD (127)
- Google (125)
- Tesla (110)
- Motion Recruitment (79)
- International Game Technology (67)
- Western Digital (66)
North Carolina
- Lenovo (12)
- Reperio Human Capital (11)
- Actalent (10)
- Itron (5)
- Schneider Electric (4)
- Rise Technical Recruitment Ltd (4)
- Xylem (4)
- Eaton Corporation (3)
- Vontier (2)
- Honeywell International (2)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.