Embedded, systems and chip engineers in the services world
A family of roles across the services world, every Company Tier together, Accenture left out. Accenture posts less of this work than most of the services world, and what it posts is described with the rest of its hiring on its own.
The short answer
Embedded firmware engineers write the software inside cars, devices and machines, C and C++ systems engineers work deep in Linux and in network equipment, and chip designers describe and check chips before they are made. In the services world these three roles together are a modest share of hiring, well below their weight at product companies, because the chip makers, device makers and carmakers do much of this work themselves. (More on them in Industry Vertical 35, Semiconductors and chip design, and Industry Vertical 38, Automotive and mobility, in the product-companies collection.) Inside services the work has two homes. The engineering-services firms of Company Tier 6, like Quest Global, L&T Technology Services and KPIT, hire it at several times their services weight, and it is much the largest part of everything they post. The giants hold the largest share in volume, at about their services weight, through Capgemini's engineering arm, Infosys, IBM and Wipro. The work is C and C++ on embedded Linux above all, with CAN bus and AUTOSAR for cars, 5G and routing protocols for networks, and SystemVerilog for chips. It fell steeply through 2026, while product companies kept their share of it steady, and chip design fell hardest. The door is a little wider than the services door, mostly through Capgemini.
Where the work sits
The engineering-services firms are where it is the job. In Company Tier 6, Where the work is hardware, cars and chips, this family is much the largest part of all openings and several times its services weight. Quest Global, L&T Technology Services, KPIT and Tessolve hire the most, and the firms there split by kind, car software at KPIT, chips at Tessolve and the chip-design firms, like LeadSoc, Silicon Patterns and Ignitarium, everything at the broad engineering firms, like Quest Global, L&T Technology Services and ALTEN.
The giants hold the largest share in volume, at about their weight. Company Tier 1, The IT services giants, posts more of this work than any other tier. Capgemini, which the narrative says does embedded software through the engineering firm it bought, Infosys, IBM and Wipro hire the most. The giants post more C and C++ systems work and more chip design than any other tier, IBM above all for chips.
Smaller pockets elsewhere. The mid-sized firms hire embedded and systems work a little below their services weight, at UST and Infinite Computer Solutions. The quiet foreign majors hire mostly network and telecom software, at Tieto above all. The specialist firms, like YASH Technologies and Bristlecone, hire it for industrial systems, with SCADA and Modbus, the software and protocols of factory control. The build firms, like Luxoft and EPAM, the consulting arms, like Deloitte, the small shops, like InterraIT and Wissen Technology, and the BPO firms, like TransPerfect and Sutherland, hire very little.
What the work is
Embedded firmware engineers are the largest of the three roles. Most write firmware for devices in C and C++ on embedded Linux and a real-time operating system, with device drivers, board support packages and the chip interfaces I2C, SPI and UART. A large part is car software, where the postings require CAN bus, AUTOSAR, ASPICE, ISO 26262 and Vector's CANoe tools, at the engineering-services firms and Capgemini. A small part brings Android up on new devices.
C and C++ systems engineers on Linux come in two kinds. Systems and kernel engineers work on the Linux kernel, drivers and file systems, often with Docker and Kubernetes, and most of them are at the giants. Network and telecom engineers build the software of network equipment and mobile networks, with TCP/IP, 5G and LTE, BGP and OSPF, at the giants, the engineering-services firms, the mid-sized firms and the quiet foreign majors, where it is most of this family's work.
Chip designers write and verify the description of a chip, in Verilog, SystemVerilog and VHDL, with the electronic design tools, for ASICs, chips built for one purpose, and FPGAs, chips that can be reprogrammed. The giants and the engineering-services firms hold most of it.
None of these postings ask for experience with language models.
The work is concentrated in Bengaluru even more than services hiring as a whole.
What is changing
These readings follow the record quarter by quarter, from October to December 2025, the third quarter of the financial year 2025-26, to July to September 2026, the second quarter of 2026-27. A longer record will show whether they last.
Services cut this work while product companies did notOpenings fell steeply from January to March 2026 into April to June 2026 and slid further after, faster than services hiring as a whole. Over the same months product companies held these roles at a steady and much higher share of their hiring.
The giants and the engineering-services firms both pulled backInfosys posted almost no embedded or systems jobs after March 2026, and Capgemini, IBM and Wipro posted far fewer. The engineering-services firms' openings fell in every quarter, as the car-software firms, like KPIT, Embitel and Tata Technologies, went quiet. The mid-sized firms held their level through the year.
Chip design fell hardestChip-design openings in July to September 2026 were a small fraction of their level in the winter of 2025.
Firmware held its place in the mixEmbedded firmware stayed the largest of the three roles in every quarter, while systems and network work shrank most.
Persistently open roles
These jobs are persistently open about as often as services jobs overall. When one is posted again, its first and last postings are typically a little over two weeks apart, and rarely more than seven weeks.
Chip design is the hardest to fill. Chip-design jobs are posted again more often than any other role in the family, and the skills found most often in persistently open jobs are the chip's, SystemVerilog, VHDL, Verilog, RISC-V and ASIC, with x86 and the VxWorks operating system.
The giants and the foreign majors keep these jobs open longest, Infosys, UST, IBM and Capgemini above all. The engineering-services firms rarely post the same job twice.
The door
This family's door is a little wider than the services door. Junior openings are more common than the services rate, though entry-level openings are rare, and mid-level openings are the majority.
Capgemini takes the largest part of the juniors, far more than any other firm. The engineering-services firms and the specialist firms take some, Quest Global among them.
Firmware is the widest door of the three roles. Systems and network work takes few juniors, and chip design leans senior, with senior and staff openings the majority.
The build firms are the most senior.
In one line
If you write C and C++ close to the hardware, the services world hires you mainly at the engineering-services firms and at Capgemini, Infosys, IBM and Wipro, but it cut this work hard in 2026, and the chip makers, device makers and carmakers themselves now hire far more of it.
Terms used on this page
Firmware and real-time operating system Software built into a device, and the small operating system it runs on, which must respond within a fixed time.
Board support package The low-level code that lets an operating system run on a particular circuit board.
I2C, SPI and UART Simple wiring standards over which chips on the same board talk to one another.
CAN bus and AUTOSAR The network over which a car's controllers talk, and the shared software standard for those controllers.
ISO 26262 and ASPICE The car industry's standard for software safety, and its standard for how software is developed.
Vector CANoe A tool for testing a car's controllers and their network.
5G, LTE, BGP and OSPF Mobile network standards, and the protocols that route data between networks.
Verilog, SystemVerilog and VHDL The languages a chip is described in before it is made.
ASIC and FPGA A chip built for one purpose, and a chip that can be reprogrammed after it is made.
RISC-V and x86 Two families of processor design.
VxWorks A real-time operating system used in aircraft, industrial and network equipment.
SCADA and Modbus The software that monitors and controls factories and utilities, and a common protocol their machines use.