Embedded · Electronics · Software · Cloud · IT talent · Greater Manchester
SEM fills technical roles for companies that build things. Embedded and electronics first, and the software, cloud, data and IT people around them. Every shortlist is read by someone who has written firmware and brought up a board, so the CVs that reach you have already been checked by someone who understands what the claims on them mean.
Whichever side of the table you are on, you deal with the same person throughout.
Most agencies match keywords. We have the technical conversation first, so the shortlist is short and every person on it can stand behind their CV.
You will get a straight account of the work, the team and the salary, from someone who can answer technical questions about the role without going back to the client first.
Ref. 01–05
Electronics and embedded is the core of it. The rest came with it, because the companies that hire firmware engineers also need the people who build everything around the product.
| Ref | Discipline | Typical roles |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Embedded & firmware | Embedded software, firmware, RTOS and bare metal, embedded Linux and Yocto, device drivers, board support packages, DSP |
| 02 | Electronics & hardware | Analogue and digital design, PCB layout, FPGA and ASIC, RF and antenna, power electronics, EMC, hardware test and validation |
| 03 | Software | Backend, full stack, desktop and mobile, QA and test automation, architects and engineering leads |
| 04 | Cloud, data & AI | DevOps and platform, SRE, data engineering, machine learning, analytics |
| 05 | IT & security | Infrastructure, networks, cyber security, IT support and management |
2 open now
A sample of what we are working on. The salary shown is the real one.
A London product company building connected industrial hardware needs a senior engineer to own the firmware on its next platform. Fully remote within the UK, with the hardware shipped to you and roughly one day a month on site if you want it.
A Birmingham manufacturer designing its own control electronics is hiring a design engineer to take STM32-based boards from schematic through layout to test. Hybrid, three days on site, with a lab and a bench of your own.
A CV that says STM32, FreeRTOS and CAN tells you very little on its own. It does not say whether the person wrote that driver or inherited it, whether they ever had the board on the bench, or what they did when it did not come up.
So we ask. Before a CV reaches you we have had a technical conversation with that engineer, and the notes we send say what they actually did, in their own words, with anything they could not answer marked as such.
If the shortlist is four people, it is because four people were worth your time.
Examples of what we ask
bring-upWalk me through the first power-on of a board you worked on. What did not work?busWhich bus was it, and why that one rather than the obvious alternative?debugLast bug that took more than a day. How did you find it, and with what on the bench?scopeOf the project you just described, which parts were yours and which were the team's?shipDid it reach production? What changed between the prototype and the shipped unit?constraintWhat were you tight on: memory, power, cost, certification or the schedule?Reply within one working day
Send the stack, the team it sits in and what would make you say no at interview. If we are not the right firm for it, we will say so on the first call rather than take the brief anyway.