Senior R&D Engineer, Embedded Hardware

Nex is on a mission to help families rediscover the joy of movement. Created by parents for parents, Nex combines technology and play to deliver fun, social, and interactive experiences powered by natural body motion, encouraging kids and adults to move more, play more, and have fun together. Nex Playground, the company’s award-winning active play system, is purpose-built to get families moving year-round, with safety and privacy as core considerations in its intentional design. It is certified kidSAFE+ COPPA compliant and built to support healthy, active play for all ages and abilities.

Nex Playground features a growing library of 50+ experiences, including motion and dance games, fitness and educational experiences, and Nex Originals. Content includes collaborations with partners like Hasbro, Sesame Workshop, and NBCUniversal. Nex has been recognized by Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, TIME’s Best Inventions, and Parents’ Best Entertainment System for Families, and has earned Red Dot, IDEA, and Core77 international design awards. We encourage you to explore Have Fun and Is Motion Gaming Back?, as they offer a deeper look into our culture, values, and explain how our approach to motion gaming differs from previous generations.

Location: Hong Kong / Remote
Type: Full Time
Reports to: VP of Platform

The Role

As a Senior R&D Engineer, you’ll be a core member of a growing team expanding the capabilities of Nex Playground. You’ll research, design, prototype, and validate new and existing hardware technologies—pushing the boundaries of SoC platforms, sensors, I/O devices, and other critical subsystems. You’ll build proof‑of‑concepts, design experiments to map performance ceilings, and contribute to specifications across the product lifecycle. Your work will inform technical direction and accelerate the path from exploration to product.

The Mindset

You’re insatiably curious and hands‑on. You love exploring new technologies, building things end‑to‑end, and explaining how they work. You think creatively, critique rigorously, and test methodically. You care about purpose and want your skills to improve people’s lives.

What You'll Do

• Scout, evaluate, and document emerging hardware technologies to build team knowledge and capability.
• Source, set up, and assess developer kits; engage with vendors to unlock technical depth.
• Design and run experiments for reliability, performance, thermals, power, and latency; analyze and present results.
• Prototype novel architectures and features to demonstrate feasibility and inform product decisions.
• Develop, adapt, and optimize low‑level drivers, HALs, and firmware.
• Contribute to accessories, motion‑tracking technologies, and the Playground OS.
• Help define requirements and architecture for next‑generation hardware.
• Provide technical guidance on hardware strategy, risks, and trade‑offs.

Must Have

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronic Engineering, or related field.
• 5+ years building embedded systems on Android (AOSP).
• Strong experience with firmware, drivers, and HAL development.
• Proven track record delivering end‑to‑end hardware solutions to real‑world problems.
• Hands‑on experience with cameras and non‑vision sensors (e.g., IMU, ToF, environmental).
• Deep knowledge of Android/Linux internals, drivers, HALs, system debugging, and performance optimization.
• Proficiency in C and Python.
• Excellent communication in English and Mandarin Chinese.

Nice To Have

• Domain knowledge of Arm architectures and SoC bring‑up.
• Experience deploying ML applications at the edge (e.g., quantization, acceleration, pipelines).
• Expertise in camera sensors, lens optics, and ISPs.
• Hardware prototyping across ME/EE (schematics, PCB bring‑up, rapid prototyping).
• Strong portfolio of shipped or personal hardware projects.
• Empathy, product intuition, and user‑centric thinking.
• Relevant industry relationships and vendor partnerships.

We Offer

• Competitive compensation package.
• Flexible working hours and vacation policy.
• Product-driven culture that treasures talents and individual growth.
• Front-row seat and hands-on experience with cutting edge technologies in the evolving gaming field

Nex is located in San Jose, California, USA and Hong Kong. Learn more about us at nex.inc/who-we-are.

We encourage applications even if you don’t meet more than 50% of the requirements — we believe that experience comes in many forms!