Come build what doesn’t exist yet.
You like figuring out how to make things work. Sometimes that starts with code. Sometimes it starts with a question about a device, a system, or what someone is actually trying to accomplish.
You enjoy turning an idea into something useful: software that runs on a device, connects a product to the cloud, controls a machine, or helps someone interact with a complex system.
You want to understand what happens beyond the code you write - how the pieces connect, where things can go wrong, and how to make the result reliable and understandable.
If that sounds familiar, we’d like to get to know you.The engineer we’d like to meet Your experience might come from school projects, independent learning, open-source contributions, a first software role, or years spent building and delivering systems. Wherever you are in that journey, we’re interested in how you think, what you’ve worked on, and what you want to learn next.
You ask questions before settling on an approach. You want to understand the problem, the constraints, and what success looks like for the people who will use what you build.
You care about software that other people can understand, test, maintain, and extend. You think through tradeoffs and look for practical solutions that meet the need without adding unnecessary complexity.
You take responsibility for your work, communicate when something needs attention, and ask for help when you need it. You welcome thoughtful code review and can explain your decisions while staying open to a better approach.
Learning is part of what keeps the work interesting. You’re willing to explore an unfamiliar codebase, tool, or technical domain - and share what you discover.The work that gets your attention At Backburner Labs, software engineers work with electrical, mechanical, controls, and manufacturing teammates to bring products and systems to life. Our work spans medical devices, robotics, industrial automation, and connected products.
Depending on your interests and experience, you might recognize yourself in some of these areas:
- Embedded software and firmware.
- Linux-based devices and systems.
- Real-time operating systems and bare-metal development.
- Connecting devices, services, and cloud platforms.
- Applications and interfaces that help people use physical products.
- Hardware integration, board bring-up, and system troubleshooting.
- Testing, debugging, and taking prototypes toward production.
- Software architecture, technical direction, and helping a team deliver.
Our work includes Rust, embedded Linux with Yocto/BitBake, Zephyr RTOS, and cloud platforms such as AWS and Azure. Open source is an important part of our engineering culture, and we’re actively exploring how LLM tools can support our work.
You don’t need experience with every technology or every kind of project. We want to understand where you already contribute, where you have depth, and where you’re eager to grow.How you like to work You enjoy understanding the whole system. An unexpected behavior might involve software, electronics, timing, a physical mechanism, or the interaction between them. You’re willing to investigate with people whose expertise differs from yours.
You like variety and can get interested in a new client problem or unfamiliar product. Projects may begin with incomplete requirements and several possible approaches. You help turn those questions into practical next steps, test what needs testing, and keep others informed as you learn.
As your experience grows, your contribution may include shaping an architecture, translating a broad goal into work a team can deliver, or helping another engineer develop their judgment.
Our work is hands-on and primarily in person in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area.Let’s start with what you’ve built Tell us about something you developed, connected, debugged, or improved. What was the problem? What part did you play? What changed along the way, and what did you learn?
Early in your career, that story might come from a class, an internship, an open-source contribution, or a personal project. With more experience, it might involve an architectural decision, a difficult integration, delivering a product, or guiding a team through an unfamiliar problem.
This profile gives us a way to connect with software engineers across experience levels as opportunities develop. Tell us what interests you about Backburner Labs and the work you’d like to do next.