The posting
Foundational Industries · SF Bay Area · Full-Time
About Foundational
Foundational is building a network of AI-native, autonomous factories for modern contract manufacturing, reshoring critical supply chains so companies can produce high-quality products domestically, quickly, and at competitive cost. Recent breakthroughs in robotics and physical AI have shifted autonomous manufacturing from theoretical to deployable, and we’re focused on operationalizing these capabilities at scale during a decisive decade for American industrial leadership.
WHO — Who Thrives Here
We are looking for a hands-on Senior Edge/IoT Engineer with deep domain experience in machine communication and edge computing. You will own the hardware-to-software abstraction layer that connects physical shop-floor machinery directly into modern, low-latency computing environments.
We are developing proprietary hardware and edge systems that interface directly with advanced machinery to extract, process, and act on high-frequency shop-floor intelligence.
A note on pace: this is a startup building something genuinely hard. The people who do best here bring a sense of urgency that’s internal, not installed. If you need the environment to create pressure for you, this probably isn’t the right fit. If you’re the one creating pressure for the environment, keep reading.
The person who thrives here:
- Builds with the end environment in mind — clean architecture and operational reliability are the same goal.
- Moves with urgency. Bias toward action, not toward getting comfortable.
- Takes ownership of outcomes, end to end. Designs it, ships it, stands behind it.
- Communicates with precision — translates technical decisions clearly across engineering, operations, and product.
- Iterates fast and holds a high bar for what “done” actually means.
- Is genuinely drawn to physical systems and curious about how factories operate. The constraints are part of the appeal.
MISSION
Build the software systems that power Foundational’s AI-native manufacturing platform, from first principles to production.
SKILLS
- Industrial OT & Machine Data Extraction - Deep technical expertise with industrial communication protocols: MTConnect, OPC UA, Modbus (TCP/RTU), MQTT, CAN bus, and Ethernet/IP. - Hands-on experience tapping into legacy and modern machine controllers (e.g., Fanuc, Siemens Sinumerik, Haas, Heidenhain, Mazak) via native APIs, industrial ethernet, or hardware taps. - Practical understanding of high-frequency machine telemetry extraction (e.g., spindle load, vibration data, axis torque, thermal variation, feed rates, and alarm registers). Edge Systems & Software Engineering - High proficiency in C++ (modern C++17/20), Rust, or Python for building efficient, low-latency data ingestion pipelines. - Expertise in Linux system administration, custom kernel configuration, real-time operating systems (RTOS), and Linux IPC mechanisms. - Deep understanding of edge containerization and orchestration using Docker, podman, K3s, microK8s, or Balena. - Experience managing edge device lifecycles (OTA firmware/software updates, secure boot, fleet management, and remote diagnostics). Multimodal Edge AI & Sensor Fusion (Strong Plus) - Experience processing and fusing heterogeneous data streams at the edge—combining numerical time-series machine telemetry with visual, thermal, or acoustic inputs. - Familiarity with lightweight AI/ML deployment frameworks for edge hardware (ONNX Runtime, TensorRT, OpenVINO, TFLite). - Experience optimizing models for edge hardware acceleration (NVIDIA Jetson, Intel OpenVINO, Coral TPUs, or dedicated NPUs). Networking, Security & Shop-Floor Reliability - Expertise in store-and-forward architecture, local queuing (e.g., SQLite, Redis, ZeroMQ), and offline-first operational resilience during network drops. - Strong grasp of industrial network security: air-gapped systems, VPNs, TLS/mTLS encryption, zero-trust network access.
COMPETENCIES
- Ships with intent — builds for the environment it will run in, holds quality to a production standard, closes the loop on what was delivered
- Systems thinker — sees how components interact, anticipates failure modes, designs for operational reality
- Builder’s instinct — energized by zero-to-one work and equally committed to what comes after the launch
- High ownership — takes responsibility for outcomes and drives problems to resolution. Doesn’t wait to be told.
- Collaborative by default — works across controls, AI, hardware, and operations without losing clarity or momentum
- Curious about the physical world — wants to understand the factory, the constraints, and what it takes to build software that holds up in it
WHY FOUNDATIONAL
This is a filter as much as it is an invitation.
We’re turning reindustrialization from a talking point into an operating reality. The work is hard, the environment is demanding, and the stakes are real. We compensate through base, bonus and equity that reflect impact, responsibility, and results, with meaningful upside for the people who help build and scale this company.
For those aligned with the mission and motivated by execution at scale, Foundational offers the opportunity to help define one of the most consequential industrial transformations of the next decade.
Foundational Industries is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and applicants. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Foundational complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. We evaluate every candidate on what they can do and who they are.
