The Opportunity
Gastronomous is hiring a Robotics Software Developer (Embedded) to write the embedded software behind our robots, running in the kitchens of some of the largest fast-food brands in North America. You will own every layer, from firmware to architecture, and build the software foundation of a robotics company in the middle of a major scale-up.
This role writes the firmware, and goes far beyond it. You will decide how our software fits together and bring up the new hardware each product needs, on a small team where mechanical, electrical, software and manufacturing share one roof. Your code will not stop at a demo: it cooks for customers every day. And your scope grows as fast as you do. Our Software Lead joined as a full-stack developer and was leading our software within two years.
Robotics Software Developer (Embedded) · Oakville, Ontario (on-site) · Full-time, permanent
About Gastronomous
We are building the “Kitchen of the Future” for quick-service restaurants. We design, engineer and manufacture AI-powered kitchen automation: ChronoGrill™, an autonomous open-flame grill; Ghost, automated beverage pouring; and Gastroverse, our IoT cloud platform that monitors every machine in the field.
How we work. We are a no-nonsense team of passionate, execution-driven people. Our ability to deliver, not just dream, sets us apart: inside and outside the company, we do what we say we will do. Our people are trusted to act independently, make practical decisions and move fast. We build the future one deployment at a time.
How fast we are growing. The last 12 to 16 months changed the shape of the company:
- Purchase orders signed with major brands, moving us from pilots to rollout
- A new office in La Mirada, California to support US deployments; most of our customers are in the US, across many states
- Our own ERP, built in-house to run parts, BOMs, inventory, work orders and purchasing
The next 12 to 16 months are bigger: scale across North America, sign new major accounts, enter new markets, secure new financing, and build an organization that can grow quickly and efficiently. We are about 35 people, mostly technical, headquartered in Oakville, Ontario.
Why This Role
- Your code runs in production. Our robots cook for customers at some of the largest fast-food brands in North America. What you ship runs in real kitchens, not in a demo.
- Every layer is yours. Firmware, middleware and the architecture that ties them together. You decide how the pieces fit, instead of maintaining one slice of someone else’s product.
- New hardware with every product. A new camera, a new sensor, a new actuator: each product brings technology we have never used before, and you are the one who makes it work.
- Your scope grows as fast as you do. Our Software Lead joined as a full-stack developer and was leading our software within two years. Ownership goes to the people who take it, and your title grows with it.
- A small team, everything under one roof. Mechanical, electrical, software and manufacturing work side by side in Oakville. The machine you are coding for is steps away, and the people who designed it are in the room.
What You Will Own
Every line of software we write touches hardware. Our complexity comes from driving many motors, sensors, heaters, pumps and cameras at once, in a hot, busy kitchen, and from deciding how all of that software fits together. Your work falls into two halves.
1. Make the machines work
Things rarely work the first time. You go after the problem like a heat-seeking missile and do not let go until it works.
- Machine software. Own the embedded C++ on Linux, and the firmware beneath it, that drives motors, sensors, actuators and cameras across ChronoGrill, Ghost and the products that come next.
- New hardware. Bring up the new camera, sensor or actuator each product needs, from datasheet to working on a shipped machine.
- At the machine. Debug in the lab, on the build floor beside the people who built the machine, and at customer sites, with a scope in hand, until it works.
- In the field. Deploy and support your code on machines cooking for customers in restaurants.
2. Shape how our software fits together
- Architecture. Decide how firmware, middleware and application code interface, and set the patterns the team builds on.
- Structure that lasts. Improve module interfaces and patterns so each new product builds on what the last one proved, in ways the team adopts.
What success looks like in year one
- First 90 days. You own a subsystem on a machine in production and have closed real issues on it.
- New hardware shipped. You take a new camera, sensor or actuator from evaluation to a shipped machine.
- Better structure. You improve how our software is structured, and the team adopts it.
- Pace. The problems you take on get solved, and your scope grows with them.
Who You Are
You are a builder. Making hardware do things is what excites you. When the first attempt fails, you act, think creatively and keep at it until it works. Hand you an unfamiliar sensor and a datasheet, and you figure it out. You have built things nobody asked you to, such as a robot, a design-team machine or a side project, and you can tell us what broke and how you fixed it.
What you bring
- Code that drives real hardware, usually C or C++: firmware, embedded Linux or both, at work, on a design team or in serious personal projects
- Hands-on building experience, with no upper limit while you are still building; what you have built matters more than how long
- You go toward the hardware: a scope, a logic analyzer, a wiring harness and a soldering iron are your tools too
- You start without a finished spec, and you would rather own the whole machine than one narrow slice
- Coming from software? So did our Software Lead. If you are a strong builder moving toward hardware, apply
- You can work on-site, 5 days/week at our Oakville headquarters
What sets you apart
- Linux on embedded or edge hardware; modern, multithreaded or real-time C++
- Microcontroller firmware and RTOS work
- Work across firmware, middleware and application layers; you have designed how modules interface
- Motor control, sensor integration and on-device vision (OpenCV, OAK/DepthAI, Jetson)
- CAN, I2C, SPI, UART, RS-485/Modbus, Ethernet, MQTT; ROS 2 or other middleware
- FIRST Robotics, VEX or university design teams (rover, robotics, Formula, EcoCAR)
- Schematics, PCBs, CAD and assembly
- You have shipped a product into the field and kept it running
What We Offer
- Ability to make a big impact!!!
- Your code on robots running in some of the largest fast-food brands in North America
- Ownership from firmware to architecture
- Stock options under our equity incentive plan
- Health, dental and vision care
- Disability, life and group insurance
Salary: $110,000–$130,000 base, plus bonus and equity opportunities.
Accommodations are available on request for candidates with disabilities throughout the hiring process.
