Senior Embedded Software and Hardware Engineer

Senior Embedded Software & Hardware Engineer

About The Role
Token is a biometric assured identity company building the most secure and seamless authentication hardware on the market. Our flagship product, the Token Ring, is a FIDO2/WebAuthn-certified wearable authenticator that delivers phishing-resistant, hardware-bound, biometrically-verified identity — all from a device worn on your finger. We serve regulated enterprises across healthcare, financial services, aerospace & defense, and the federal government.

At Token, hardware and firmware are not supporting functions—together they are the heart of our security story. This role sits at the intersection of electronics, embedded software, cryptography, and manufacturing in a way few engineering roles can offer.

Role Overview
We are looking for a versatile Senior Embedded Software & Hardware Engineer who can own a product end to end—from schematic and PCB layout through firmware, bring-up, testing, and manufacturing. This is a hands-on role for the kind of engineer who designs the board, writes the code that runs on it, and is first to the bench when something doesn’t work. You will design and debug both the hardware and the embedded software behind Token’s biometric authentication devices, select and qualify components, test pre-production prototypes, run RF and board-level diagnostics, and work directly with manufacturing to get products built and to root-cause failures when they occur.

Responsibilities:
Embedded Software

• Design, develop, debug, and maintain embedded firmware across the full lifecycle—requirements, architecture, implementation, test, and documentation.
• Read, understand, and apply component datasheets, reference manuals, and applicable standards (FIDO, JavaCard, and others) in Token designs.
• Monitor and optimize use of constrained system resources—CPU, memory (RAM/NVRAM), and I/O.
• Write clean, maintainable, well-documented code and participate in code reviews.

Hardware Design & Development

• Design schematics and lay out PCBs for new products and revisions of existing ones.
• Select components and manage the BOM for performance, availability, quality, and cost.
• Own hardware bring-up and hardware/software integration on new boards.
• Define hardware and software specifications together to ensure compatibility and performance.

Testing, Debugging & Failure Analysis

• Test pre-production prototypes and diagnose issues spanning both hardware and software.
• Perform RF testing and board-level diagnostics using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and spectrum analyzers.
• Troubleshoot hardware faults—bad solder joints, design issues, marginal components—alongside general hardware and software debugging.
• Lead failure analysis on prototypes, returns, and production defects, persisting until root cause is determined and driving corrective action.

Manufacturing & Collaboration

• Work directly with manufacturing and contract manufacturers to resolve production issues and improve yield.
• Ensure component and design decisions produce a high-quality, cost-effective, and manufacturable product.
• Collaborate across hardware, firmware, cloud, mobile, and manufacturing teams to align on product requirements and goals.
• Contribute to engineering processes, tooling, and best practices, and embrace AI tools to streamline development, documentation, and testing.
• Ensure compliance with applicable standards and regulations (e.g., ISO 13485, ISO 9001, FIDO, SOC 2).

Qualifications:
Required

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, or a related field.
• 5+ years in embedded systems development spanning both firmware and hardware.
• Expertise in C/C++ for resource-constrained embedded systems (Rust a plus).
• Strong grasp of embedded architecture, microcontroller/microprocessor fundamentals, and real-time operating systems (RTOS).
• Demonstrated hardware design experience: schematic capture and multilayer PCB layout.
• Experience with hardware bring-up, board-level diagnostics, and hardware/software integration.
• Hands-on lab proficiency with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and spectrum analyzers, including RF testing.
• Systematic, relentless debugging and root-cause skills across hardware and software.
• Experience working with contract manufacturers to resolve production and quality issues.
• Familiarity with version control (Git), issue tracking (Jira), and agile methodologies.

Preferred

• Experience with FIDO2/WebAuthn, secure elements, or other cryptographic hardware.
• RF and wireless design experience (BLE, NFC, antenna design and tuning).
• Design-for-manufacturing and design-for-test (DFM/DFT) experience.
• Failure-analysis techniques such as X-ray inspection, cross-sectioning, and thermal imaging.
• Low-power, battery-powered, or wearable device design.
• Familiarity with EMC and regulatory compliance (FCC, CE) and certification processes.
• Experience in regulated industries such as healthcare, financial services, aerospace/defense, or federal.

Why is this role special:

• Competitive base salary commensurate with experience
• Equity participation in a growing, mission-driven company
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision benefits
• A hands-on role with dedicated lab and bench access, owning products end to end
• The rare breadth to take a product from schematic to shipped hardware—and to be the engineer who figures out why it works, and why it sometimes doesn’t.
• The opportunity to build the hardware and firmware that protect some of the most sensitive identities in the world.