Head Protocol Nerd (a.k.a. I/O Subsystem Engineer)

Are you a control systems junkie with a passion for elegant protocols and ruthless clarity in abstraction boundaries?

We’re looking for a technical systems-minded engineer who lives and breathes protocols — not to design subsystems in isolation, but to lead the charge on what building control integrations matter, when they matter, and how they should be built across teams.

About PassiveLogic®

PassiveLogic is the first fully autonomous platform for buildings. We’ve reinvented the fundamental principles of automation to democratize technology, optimize buildings, and reduce the world’s carbon footprint. We are a team of technologists, engineers, and creatives dedicated to making a sustainable impact through real-world solutions.

We are looking for team members who have a passion for technology and want to work on cutting-edge problems with real-world solutions. Our culture is built on bringing together the most talented engineers, thinkers, and creatives—backed by the world’s leading investors—working together to make the future a reality.

About the Role

This is a career-defining opportunity to play a crucial role in a hyper-scale AI company that is transforming the future of autonomous systems, energy, and the built environment.

What you’ll do

As our Head Protocol Nerd, you’ll be the nerve center for connectivity between our digital twin-driven control stack and the fragmented world of building control protocols. You’ll:

Own PassiveLogic’s protocol roadmap: Decide which standards we support next and when, based on our product roadmap.

Scope and lead integration efforts: Interface real-world systems to our autonomy platform through intelligent I/O and networks.

Coordinate protocol implementations: Work with product, applications, hardware, and OS teams to drive protocol timelines, implementation, and integration.

Design and evolve abstract protocol data models: Connect physical devices to our digital twin-based control logic.

If your experience does not meet all our posted requirements below, we’d still love to hear from you. We are looking for practitioners who are passionate about understanding people, committed to lifelong learning, and driven by the love of what they do. If that’s you, please apply!

You must have

• Proven experience: Deep fluency with at least 3 building or network control protocols (e.g. BACnet/IP & SC, Modbus RTU/TCP, KNX, MQTT, OPC-UA, Matter, Thread, LwM2M, Zigbee, or similar).
• Exceptional communication skills: Skilled in documenting and managing technical efforts cross functionally while maintaining connection with the wider team
• Organized and strategic: Demonstrated ability to create and drive a technical roadmap.
• Collaborative mindset: You know engineering is a team sport — and that the best systems happen when sharp people think together.
• Adaptability: Comfortable in a fast-paced startup environment, eager to learn, iterate, and innovate.
• Problem solving: You own this role. When issues arise, be the empowered force that solves them.

You should have

• Hands-on networking experience: Shipped a networked embedded product
• Experience testing for scale: Designed physical and virtual testbeds to simulate edge cases, degraded networks, and multi-device integration scenarios
• Systems programming: C, C++, Rust, Go, Swift, or similar
• Data models: Collaboratively designed and implemented protocol data models

It’s helpful to have

• Swift language experience
• Experience with several programming paradigms, such as object-oriented, functional, data-driven, protocol oriented, and/or reactive programming
• Equipment familiarity: logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, oscilloscopes, etc.
• Protocol/product certification experience

We know there are candidates who might not fit everything we’ve described above, or who might have experience and skills we haven’t considered. PassiveLogic can sometimes be flexible enough to shift responsibilities to the right person, or otherwise identify open or upcoming roles that may better fit your professional background. Even if you don’t meet all the requirements above, we still want to hear from you.

Compensation, Benefits & Perks:

• Competitive compensation
• Generous equity share package
• Medical, dental and vision coverage
• Disability and life Insurance options
• Flex PTO
• Team-building events
• Free catered lunch in the office Monday — Friday
• Free ski pass (We are at the base of Big Cottonwood Canyon)
• Free National Park pass
• Onsite Gym

A Note on Working Onsite:

This role is based in our Salt Lake City headquarters. We believe that creativity and cohesion flows best when we are all together. When you’re constantly innovating, transforming whole industries, inventing new products and processes, and creating a more sustainable future through technology—and we are doing all these things—we believe we’re better as a team in-person. That’s why all of our teams work from one of our office locations, five days a week.

When applying, include:

• A cover letter telling us why you're the perfect candidate for PassiveLogic that describes the hardest engineering problem you’ve solved that also involved leading a group of people
• A resume
• Extra mile — include a description of a project (of any type) you personally created, devised, built, managed, organized, or designed that was of your own self-initiative

Diversity and inclusion

Diversity, inclusion, and belonging is woven into our values and everything we do. We welcome all—come as you are and bring your whole self. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity every day by maintaining a safe and inclusive environment for our employees at every stage of their careers.