EmbeddedFirmwareFPGAControlsSCADARoboticsBESSMining AutomationMechanicalEdge AI

Embedded Systems, Firmware, FPGA, PLC and SCADA Engineering Recruitment

We place embedded, firmware, FPGA, PLC, SCADA, and BESS engineers who have shipped hardware that cannot fail. Australia, New Zealand, and the USA.

Book a 15 min Call Submit Your Job Spec

97%

Retention Rate

90d

Replacement Guarantee

28+

Years Specialist Focus

40%

Briefs We Push Back On

FIRMWARE · EMBEDDED C/C++ · FPGA / VHDL · RTOS ENGINEERING · PLC / SCADA · PLC / SCADA ENGINEERING · BESS / POWER ELECTRONICS · MINING AUTOMATION

The Problem

Hiring engineers is risky. Pretending otherwise is negligent.

Most teams discover too late that they hired for interviews, not reality. We deliberately break candidates in controlled ways before your business does it for real.

Roles rejected outright when expectations are unrealistic
97% retention because we say no more than yes
Zero tolerance for untested engineers
Used by teams where mistakes have real consequences

Call us to evaluate the risk properly.

Book a Call

Overview

What we do

RunTime helps engineering teams avoid bad hires in complex, real world systems.

We Understand Engineering

We don't skim resumes. We interrogate competence. Our screening is grounded in how systems actually fail.

No Template Hiring

There are no interchangeable engineers. We align to your system, your risk profile, and your delivery pressure.

Signal Over Volume

We don't flood you with CVs. We apply targeted outreach, referrals, and a curated database.

We Own the Risk With You

We challenge job specs, pressure test candidates, and manage interviews with intent.

Active Roles

Open Positions

View All

Process Development Engineer

Job Location: Sydney, New South Wales

View Full Job >>

Cloud Security Engineer

Job Location: Melbourne, Victoria

View Full Job >>

Software Team Lead

Job Location: Wellington, Wellington

View Full Job >>

Test and Validation Engineer

Job Location: Melbourne, Victoria

View Full Job >>

Senior Cloud DevOps Engineer

Job Location: Wellington, Wellington

View Full Job >>

Embedded Systems Engineer

Job Location: Melbourne, Victoria

View Full Job >>

Sectors We Cover

Industries

See All

Medical

Transport

Industrial

Audio/Video

Space

ML/CV

Agriculture

Energy

Telecommunications

IoT

How It Works

Workflow

Phase	What Happens	Why It Matters
Kick off	Stakeholder briefing. Lock down job spec. Agree KPIs, timelines, and contacts.	Aligns everyone on goals and process, prevents scope creep later.
Market Research	Analyse competitors and tech stacks. Map market trends.	Sharpens the pitch so we attract exactly the right talent.
Candidate Sourcing	Search databases and inbound lists. Leverage networks, social channels, and referrals.	Builds a quality funnel with no resume blasts.
Shortlisting	Technical interviews. Skills tests.	Saves you time, only the top three candidates move forward.
Presentation and Interviews	Present endorsed candidates. Schedule interviews. Debrief both sides after each round.	Maintains momentum and candidate engagement throughout.
Offer Management	Reference checks. Draft and present offer. Confirm commitment level.	Reduces last minute surprises and renegotiations.
Post Hire Support	Regular check ins with client and new hire. Assist onboarding.	Protects your investment and boosts retention.

Social Proof

What Engineers and Clients Say

RunTime Recruitment

57 Google reviews

Write a Review

Payam Samavati

July 28, 2025

Had a great experience with Runtime. A big thank you to Aldwin, who was incredibly helpful, professional, and supportive throughout the whole process. Highly recommend!

Peter Tan

June 29, 2025

Lance proactively secured my opportunity and made the hiring process smooth with his professionalism, clear communication, and genuine support throughout. Highly recommend RunTime Recruitment.

Davey Tober

February 14, 2025

I had a great experience working with both Simon and Lance at Runtime. They were responsive, diligent, and took the time to truly understand my background and career goals.

Michael Chen

January 10, 2025

RunTime found me a senior firmware role in two weeks. Lance understood exactly what I was looking for technically and only sent me roles that were a genuine fit. No keyword matching nonsense.

Sarah Williams

December 5, 2024

As a hiring manager, RunTime saved us months of failed searching. They pushed back on our unrealistic spec and helped us define what we actually needed. Every candidate they sent was worth interviewing.

James Robertson

November 18, 2024

Best technical recruiter I have worked with. They actually understand embedded systems and asked me real engineering questions during screening. The role they placed me in was exactly right.

Engineering Insights

Latest Articles

View All Articles

Technical11 August 2026

Dual-Bank Flash Swaps: Preventing Unrecoverable Bricks During Power Interruption Mid-A/B Update

Every embedded engineer has experienced the cold sweat of a potential field failure. Imagine a fleet of remote industrial sensors, automotive ECUs, or medical devices deployed across thousands of customer sites. An Over-The-Air (OTA) firmware update is broadcast across the network. Midway through writing the new binary image into internal flash memory, a power failure occurs—a drained battery, a grid brownout, or an operator accidentally pulling the plug. If the system relies on a traditional single-bank flash memory architecture, this single event can be catastrophic. The existing application code is partially erased or corrupted, leaving the device stranded in an incomplete bootloader loop or completely unresponsive—a state known as "bricking". Recovering thousands of bricked devices in the field requires expensive manual intervention, physical JTAG re-flashing, or costly RMA returns.

Secure by Default, Not by Patch: Moving Threat Modeling to the Very Beginning of the Embedded Lifecycle

For years, the technology industry has leaned on a "move fast and break things" philosophy, treating security as a bolt-on feature handled via post-release patches. While web developers can afford to push a hotfix to a cloud server in ten minutes, embedded engineers operate in the physical world. In our domain, pushing a faulty Over-The-Air (OTA) update to a fleet of agricultural tractors over a spotty 2G connection can brick the entire fleet. The era of "patching it later" is over. Regulatory frameworks and the sheer physics of connected devices are forcing a paradigm shift. To build truly resilient products, we must adopt a Secure by Default methodology. And that begins with moving Threat Modeling to the very beginning of the embedded lifecycle—Phase Zero.

AI Isn’t Replacing Firmware Engineers: Why Stricter Expectations are Exposing Weak Embedded Architectures

While high-level application developers may worry about AI writing web frameworks from scratch, firmware development exists at the unforgiving intersection of software algorithms and physical silicon. Microcontrollers (MCUs), real-time operating systems (RTOS), DMA controllers, memory protection units (MPUs), and hardware registers do not operate in an abstract cloud sandbox with limitless RAM and elastic compute resources. They operate under deterministic timing budgets, strict power envelopes, hard physical safety requirements, and vendor silicon errata. AI code generation tools are becoming remarkably capable at writing standard HAL initialization routines, synthesizing simple state machines, and generating repetitive board support package (BSP) scaffolding. However, this sudden influx of high-velocity code creation is actually exposing a long-standing vulnerability within the embedded industry: poor software architecture.

You keep applying. You keep getting silence.

28 years reading firmware CVs. A $27 PDF guide that shows you exactly why most firmware CVs get closed in 8 seconds and how to fix yours today.

Get the Guide . $27

$27

Instant PDF download

Market Intelligence

Engineering Market Pulse

Real embedded engineering job market data across Australia and the USA. Skills in demand, hiring by discipline, and location trends — updated twice monthly.

View Market Pulse

2,992

US Firmware Jobs

5,937

US Robotics Jobs

144

AU Robotics Jobs

AU Firmware Jobs

Free Newsletter

The Engineering Pulse

Engineering recruitment insights, embedded systems trends, and career intelligence. No spam. No recruiterspeak.

Common Questions

FAQ

We specialise exclusively in deep tech hardware disciplines: embedded systems engineers, firmware engineers, FPGA engineers, DSP engineers, robotics engineers, control systems engineers, PLC and SCADA engineers, power electronics and BESS engineers, mining automation engineers, mechanical engineers, machine learning and edge AI engineers, hardware engineers, and electronics engineers. We do not place generalist software developers or IT professionals.