Embedded Systems Architect

Embedded Systems Architect

DEPARTMENT: R&D

REPORTS TO: Vice President of Research & Development

FLSA: Full Time, Exempt (Salary)

Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm (Hybrid)

Compensation: $150,000 to $180,000 annually

Why You Should Join Us!

• A comprehensive health plan that includes medical, dental, and vision coverage to ensure you and your family have access to the care you need
• A 401(k)-retirement plan with a generous company match to help you save for your future and achieve your financial goals
• Other fringe benefits including Birthday & Anniversary bonus , company-wide discounts , life insurance, Telemedicine access, short & long-term disability, and more!
• Positive work environments that offer work/life balance and professional growth
• Mission-driven work making a global impact with local roots
• The opportunity to have hands on work experience with industry leading , innovative technology

Position Summary

We are seeking an Embedded Systems Architect to serve as a high-impact technical leader within the Engineering team. This role is ideal for an experienced embedded systems professional who combines hands-on firmware development expertise with strong system architecture knowledge, hardware/software integration experience, and cross-functional leadership.

This position sits between Hardware, Application Software, Test, and Product Engineering, and will help define embedded systems architecture, design system and firmware flows, recommend changes to gateways and hardware responses, and guide embedded development efforts toward stable, scalable, production-ready solutions.

The ideal candidate is a strong systems thinker who understands how embedded software, hardware, gateways, communication layers, and product requirements intersect. They should also be comfortable using modern AI-assisted development tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, GitHub Copilot, or similar tools to support development, debugging, documentation, test planning, and architectural exploration.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Own and guide end-to-end embedded systems architecture across the device, gateway, communication layer, backend service handoff, data ingestion, data storage expectations, diagnostics, and operational monitoring.
• Design and document complete system flows, including embedded software workflows, interface contracts, message and data flows, boot flows, diagnostic flows, fault-handling flows, recovery flows, and backend data handling assumptions.
• Architect over-the-air update approaches, including versioning, validation, integrity checks, staged rollout, failure detection, rollback, fallback, safe recovery, and field-service considerations when an update does not complete successfully.
• Develop, review, and guide embedded code, prototypes, APIs, and integration patterns where hands-on validation is needed; this role is not measured by volume of code written, but it requires strong software judgment and the ability to guide clean, scalable implementation.
• Apply object-oriented, modular, and testable design principles in embedded C and in relevant higher-level languages or tooling environments; use C++ where appropriate without assuming the role is primarily heavy C++ development.
• Architect and enhance embedded systems for real-time environments using RTOS concepts, state machines, task scheduling, event-driven design, and timing-aware design patterns.
• Serve as a technical liaison between Hardware, Application Software, Backend/Cloud, Test, Product Engineering, and Operations to ensure system-level alignment and reliable integration.
• Recommend changes to gateways, hardware interfaces, firmware behavior, backend data handling, device responses, and system interactions to improve reliability, performance, scalability, maintainability, and serviceability.
• Create efficiencies in the development, test, release, and UAT process through architecture improvements, test automation, simulation or emulation strategies, diagnostics tooling, release readiness criteria, and improved integration workflows.
• Evaluate and implement system-level improvements that reduce cost, improve product performance, increase reliability, simplify testing, accelerate releases, or make field support easier.
• Support hardware/software integration and lab debugging as needed by interpreting schematics, datasheets, board-level designs, and hardware specifications at a functional level, while partnering with hardware specialists on low-level driver or board-specific details.
• Lead system-level troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and defect reproduction using logs, telemetry, lab equipment, communication traces, and cross-functional investigation methods.
• Identify architectural improvements, technical debt, performance constraints, integration risks, hardware dependencies, backend dependencies, and scalability concerns; proactively propose and implement solutions.
• Provide technical leadership through architecture guidance, design reviews, code reviews, merge reviews, debugging support, quality oversight, development planning, and mentoring of embedded software engineers.
• Partner with Test and Validation teams to define system-level test strategy, reproduce defects, support environmental testing, evaluate system behavior, and verify product reliability before release.
• Use AI-assisted development tools responsibly to support coding, debugging, documentation, refactoring, test planning, architecture research, and technical problem-solving.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Embedded Systems or a related field required.
• A minimum of 8 years of progressive experience in embedded systems or embedded software development required.
• Minimum of 2 years of experience leading embedded software architecture, major feature design, platform design, or end-to-end embedded systems initiatives required.
• Advanced proficiency in embedded C/C++ programming required.
• Strong experience developing firmware within RTOS environments and real-time systems required.
• Demonstrated expertise in hardware/software integration and low-level debugging required.
• Proven ability to independently own embedded systems components from concept through production required.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and communication skills required.
• Experience working with microcontroller platforms such as Renesas, MSP430, Nordic, or similar preferred.
• Experience implementing communication protocols including I2C, SPI, UART, USB, and Bluetooth preferred.
• Experience with USB and Bluetooth stacks as well as automotive protocols such as OBD II preferred.
• Knowledge of cellular communication technologies such as GSM, LTE, CDMA, and RS485 preferred.
• Familiarity with Agile development methodologies and tools such as JIRA and SVN preferred.
• Exposure to higher-level languages such as Python, Java, or C# for tooling, test automation, or system integration preferred.
• Experience in regulated, safety-sensitive, or hardware-centric product environments preferred.

Physical Demands & Work Environment

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions.
• While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to use hands or fingers to handle, or feel objects, tools or controls. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
• This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent in this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments.
• All duties and responsibilities are essential functions and requirements and are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully, the incumbents will possess the skills aptitudes and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health or safety of themselves or others.
• The requirements listed in this document are the minimum levels of knowledge, skills or abilities. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an "at will" relationship.

Compensation for this position ranges from $150,000 to $180,000 annually. The pay that is offered will be determined based on a variety of qualifications including relevant experience, skills, education, and internal equity.

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