Embedded AI Engineer

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Embedded AI Engineer

Company: Hitachi America, Ltd.
Division: R&D / MIL (Mobility Innovation Lab)
Location: Santa Clara, CA
Status: Project Employee

About Hitachi America, Ltd.

Through its Social Innovation Business (SIB) that brings together IT, OT (Operational Technology) and products, Hitachi contributes to a harmonized society where the environment, wellbeing, and economic growth are in balance. Hitachi operates globally in four sectors – Digital Systems & Services, Energy, Mobility, and Connective Industries – and the Strategic SIB Business Unit for new growth businesses. With Lumada at its core, Hitachi generates value from integrating data, technology and domain knowledge to solve customer and social challenges. Revenues for FY2024 (ended March 31, 2025) totaled 9,783.3 billion yen, with 618 consolidated subsidiaries and approximately 280,000 employees worldwide. Visit us at www.hitachi.com.

Summary:

Hitachi’s R&D Center, located in Santa Clara, CA, serves as a pivotal technology hub to support Hitachi’s global Social Innovation business. The Mobility Innovation Laboratory (MIL) prototypes and validates embedded AI and system solutions to solve real problems in industrial domains.  In this position, you will implement embedded software primarily on STM32 MCUs and M5Stack (ESP32-based) devices. In addition, you will build a reliable on-device system that connects sensor inputs (microphone and camera) to on-device AI inference on real hardware.

In this project, the lead engineer will define the system specifications and develop the AI models. You are expected to understand these specifications and AI models, and then implement, test, and improve the firmware/device application while considering embedded constraints such as memory, latency, power, and communication quality.

This role is a great opportunity to strengthen your practical skills in embedded AI through development aimed at real demos and on-site deployment.

Responsibilities:

• Develop embedded code on STM32 using tools such as CubeMX, CubeIDE (interrupts, timers, DMA, etc.), including communication processing (Wi-Fi / BLE / UART / USB) and device control.

• Implement applications on M5Stack/ESP32 (Arduino and/or ESP-IDF), including communication processing (Wi-Fi / BLE / UART / USB) and device control.

• Implement sensors/peripherals (I2C / SPI / UART / ADC / PWM, etc.), data acquisition, and preprocessing.

• Integrate provided AI models based on the specifications (inference runtime and I/O pipelines).

• Optimize under MCU constraints (reduce memory usage, improve speed, and consider quantization or fixed-point implementation when needed).

• Create test and validation materials (simple automation, reproduction steps, documentation).

• Communicate risks, alternatives, and design trade-offs with the lead engineer/hiring manager.

Required Qualifications:

• M.S. in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.

• 2+ years of embedded software development experience in C/C++.

• Development experience with STM32 microcontrollers (CubeMX, CubeIDE, X-CUBE-AI, etc.).

• Development experience with M5Stack/ESP32 (Arduino or ESP-IDF; ESP-IDF is preferred).

• Ability to understand specifications and convert them into an implementation plan, with strong communication skills to collaborate with stakeholders.

• Experience integrating/optimizing on-device AI inference (e.g., X-CUBE-AI or equivalent).

• Experience with profiling/optimization (memory, speed), quantization, fixed-point.

• Experience with embedded testing and documentation for reproducibility.

EOE-Females/Minorities/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

Our Values

We are proud to say we are an equal opportunity employer and welcome all applicants for employment without attention to any factor that doesn’t impact your ability to do the job, including race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.  We are proud of Japanese heritage, with our values expressed through the Hitachi Spirit:

Wa – Harmony, Trust, Respect

Makoto – Sincerity, Fairness, Honesty, Integrity

Kaitakusha-Seishin – Pioneering Spirit, Challenge  

For California only (as required by California’s Pay Transparency for Pay Equity Act (SB 1162): A good faith estimate of the expected salary for this position in our California office salary range that the employer reasonably expects to pay for the position upon hire is $93,891 - $117,364. Pay is determined based on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, depth of experience in the practice area. Employees are eligible to participate in Hitachi America’s variable pay program, subject to the program’s conditions and restrictions.

Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE)-Females/Minorities/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

If you need a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job at Hitachi, please send the nature of request and contact information to [email protected]. Queries other than accommodation requests will not be responded to.