Do You Need to Hire In-House Firmware Talent?

Many product teams reach a moment where the excitement of a new idea runs into a wall. The industrial design looks great, the pitch deck makes sense, and the prototype sort of works. But now the question lands: Who is going to make this thing actually function? That’s when the search for firmware talent usually begins, and when the debate starts over whether to hire someone full-time or bring in outside expertise.

We are here to tell you that it does not have to be an either/or choice. Recruiting senior firmware engineers can take six months or more, and once they join, they still face a ramp-up period before they are productive. That timeline is a long stretch for hardware projects that need to show progress now. Think Circuits helps teams bridge that gap by accelerating development, proving feasibility, and getting products moving, while you continue building the in-house team that will eventually own the work long-term. We then handle the transitional work required to bring the project in-house for you.

For information about our firmware development services, or to discuss feasibility of your project or product concept, get in touch. We’d be happy to speak with you.

What Does a Firmware Developer Actually Do?

Firmware controls the low-level behavior of your hardware. That may include turning raw sensor inputs into meaningful actions, managing memory and power usage, keeping the system stable over time, and creating the connection between your device and any external app or cloud system.

If it’s a wearable tracking biometric data, firmware needs to sample from sensors at the right intervals, average those readings, and compress the results for Bluetooth transmission. If it’s a smart home device, the firmware might need to wake the system from a deep sleep state and connect to Wi-Fi within a few seconds, then push an update to a cloud API and shut everything back down to conserve battery.

For robotics products, firmware might be responsible for processing encoder data, triggering motion control loops, and reacting to collision sensors in real time. If the product plays audio, firmware has to manage codec settings, buffer timing, and DSP operations without introducing glitches or lag. Devices with BLE connectivity add another layer: secure pairing, OTA updates, and handling mobile app communication that may drop at any time.

All of this takes a strong understanding of both the hardware platform and the product’s behavior in the field. Missed button presses, sluggish response times, or high battery drain can all come down to choices made at the firmware level. Development requires fluency in hardware constraints, real-time operation, communication protocols, and system-level debugging—before you even consider over-the-air updates or manufacturing test logic.

What Does It Cost to Hire In-House?

In the U.S., hiring an embedded firmware engineer can run anywhere from $130,000 to $180,000 per year. On top of that are benefits, recruiting costs, and lab equipment. But even more important than cost is time. Recruiting senior talent can stretch six months or longer, and once you do bring someone on, the ramp-up to your specific product can easily take additional months before you see meaningful output.

That delay matters. In fast-moving product categories like wearables, robotics, or smart home devices, six to nine months without progress can mean missing the moment. Our goal at Think Circuits is to give you momentum while you keep searching for the right long-term hire, then to hand the project over as smoothly as possible once your internal team is ready to go.

Why Some Hires Don’t Cover All the Gaps

Even after you hire, there’s no guarantee that a single engineer has the experience your project needs. Someone who built firmware for medical pumps might not be the right fit for wireless audio. A developer who spent years in a large corporate environment may struggle with the speed and ambiguity of early hardware revisions at a startup.

We often meet teams who already made an in-house hire, but still need support to ship a product. Maybe the firmware works on the bench but drains the battery in the field. Maybe it passes basic tests but fails under real-world conditions. In those cases, we collaborate with the internal engineer, accelerate the fix, and then transfer ownership back once the product is stable.

Think Circuits Builds Fast, Then Hands Off

We work with companies that have a clear product idea but no internal firmware team—or a team that needs more support to reach production. Often, our clients aren’t even sure if their vision is technically possible yet. We help determine feasibility early, then guide technical execution so that firmware supports the full user experience.

We’ve helped launch fitness trackers, smart home products, robotics systems, and the world’s first consumer brain-computer interface. Our work has included writing power-saving sensor firmware for wearables, creating SLAM-based navigation in autonomous machines, and implementing OTA update frameworks for devices shipped at scale.

The important detail is that we don’t replace your long-term team. We give you velocity now, then provide a clean handoff once your internal engineers are ready to take ownership.

If You're Still Prototyping, You Don’t Need to Wait

If you have one or two SKUs and a focused roadmap, you don’t need to delay progress while you hire. What you need is a partner who can help you make the right architectural decisions, write reliable algorithms, and get through validation and compliance. That’s what we do every day.

We also provide documentation, test tools, and handoff support so your in-house engineers can pick up the project without losing ground. By the time your full-time hires are productive, your product will already be live in the market.

The Support Your Product Team Needs

Do you have someone who knows to ask (and answer) these questions?

• How much memory and processing power will this require?
• Can we fit this firmware on the chosen microcontroller?
• Will it support OTA updates?
• Is there enough flexibility to support future features?
• How should the firmware interface with our mobile app?

Think Circuits brings experience and velocity to these decisions. We’ve helped teams go from napkin sketch to mass production, then transitioned projects back to their in-house engineers. From BCI development services to robotics and more, call us. If you are still building your permanent embedded team, or if you’ve hit a wall with your current development, we can help you move forward now, without compromise.