Staff Device Engineer

Staff Device Engineer

Boston, Massachusetts

Alarm.com is seeking an experienced and technically strong Embedded Firmware Engineer to join our Device Engineering team. This role is ideal for an engineer who thrives in hands-on development while providing technical leadership across embedded platforms, third-party device integrations, and firmware architecture modernization efforts.

As a Staff Engineer, you will own and evolve embedded firmware architectures running on resource-constrained devices, with deep involvement in RTOS-based systems such as Zephyr. You will be an individual contributor leading complex integrations with security panels, sensors, and third-party devices, set technical direction for firmware platforms, and partner closely with Software Engineering, Quality Engineering, Product, and Project Management to deliver scalable, reliable, and secure products. You will also play a key role in advancing firmware automation and CI/CD pipelines across the organization.

What You'll Do

• Lead the design, development, and long-term maintenance of embedded firmware for connected security and IoT devices as an individual contributor.
• Own and evolve firmware architectures based on modern RTOS platforms (e.g., FreeRTOS, Zephyr), including task design, memory management, synchronization, and system reliability
• Drive complex integrations with third-party devices such as security panels, sensors, and peripheral modules, setting best practices and technical standards
• Design and review device drivers, communication stacks, and application-level firmware with an emphasis on scalability, performance, and maintainability
• Act as a technical leader and mentor for junior and mid-level firmware engineers through design reviews, code reviews, and hands-on guidance
• Partner closely with Software Engineering, Quality Engineering, Product, and Project Management to shape requirements, assess technical tradeoffs, and deliver features predictably
• Lead root-cause analysis for complex system issues that span hardware, firmware, cloud, and mobile components
• Drive improvements to firmware automation, test infrastructure, and CI/CD pipelines, including build systems, automated testing, and hardware-in-the-loop validation
• Champion firmware quality, security, documentation, and engineering best practices across the device organization
• Other duties as assigned

What You Bring

• 7-8 years of professional experience developing embedded firmware in C/C++ for production systems
• Deep, hands-on experience designing and shipping RTOS-based embedded systems (FreeRTOS, Zephyr, or equivalent)
• Strong understanding of embedded system architecture, including task scheduling, concurrency, memory management, timing constraints, and fault handling
• Extensive experience integrating third-party hardware and vendor SDKs using common interfaces (UART, SPI, I2C, GPIO, etc.)
• Proven ability to debug complex issues using hardware and software tools (JTAG/SWD, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, tracing, logging)
• Demonstrated ability to responsibly and effectively leverage AI-assisted development tools to accelerate firmware design, debugging, documentation, and test development, while ensuring correctness, security, and maintainability through rigorous review and validation.
• Experience working across cross-functional teams and influencing technical decisions beyond your immediate team
• Strong communication skills and the ability to provide technical leadership without formal people management responsibilities

Nice to Have

• Experience leading firmware platform migrations or major architectural refactors
• Familiarity with embedded security concepts such as secure boot, firmware updates, key management, and device lifecycle management
• Experience with common communication protocols. Wireless technology familiarity is a plus (cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Zigbee, etc).
• Experience designing or maintaining embedded firmware CI/CD pipelines, automation frameworks, or hardware-in-the-loop systems
• Experience collaborating on hardware design, including schematic reviews, bring-up and low-power design is a plus.
• Exposure to low-power design considerations for embedded or IoT devices
• Experience working in Agile or iterative product development environments

Please note that sponsorship of new applicants for employment authorization, or any other immigration-related support, is not available for this position at this time.

WHY WORK FOR ALARM.COM?

• Collaborate with outstanding people: We hire only the best. Our standards are high and our employees enjoy working alongside other high achievers.
• Make an immediate impact: New employees can expect to be given real responsibility for bringing new technologies to the marketplace. You are empowered to perform as soon as you join the Alarm.com team!
• Gain well rounded experience: Alarm.com offers a diverse and dynamic environment where you will get the chance to work directly with executives and develop expertise across multiple areas of the business.
• Community and Camaraderie: One of our core values is to 'Keep It Fun,' which to us means fostering a strong sense of community. Our culture is built on collaboration and connection, where we celebrate our successes and believe that a positive, engaging environment is key to doing our best work.
• Alarm.com values working together and collaborating in person. Our employees work from the office 4 days a week.

COMPANY INFO

Alarm.com is the leading platform for intelligently connected properties. Millions of homeowners and businesses rely on Alarm.com's technology to secure, monitor, and manage their environments from anywhere. Our comprehensive suite of solutions—including security, video surveillance, access control, active shooter detection, intelligent automation, energy management, and wellness—is delivered exclusively through a trusted network of thousands of professional service providers and commercial integrators across North America and worldwide. Alarm.com's common stock is traded on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ALRM. Alarm.com delivers serious security for serious people.

For more information, please visit

COMPANY BENEFITS

Our total rewards package is designed to support you holistically—in your health, your finances, and your life outside of work. The package includes medical plans with company subsidies, a Health Savings Account (HSA) with a company contribution, and a 401(k) with an employer match. We encourage a healthy work-life balance with paid vacation that increases with tenure, paid holidays, wellness time, and paid maternity and bonding leave. To complete the package, we also provide company-paid disability and life insurance, all within a collaborative and casual work environment.

Alarm.com is an Equal Opportunity Employer

In connection with your application, we collect information that identifies, reasonably relates to or describes you ("Personal Information"). The categories of Personal Information that we may collect include your name, government-issued identification number(s), email address, mailing address, other contact information, emergency contact information, employment history, educational history, criminal record, and demographic information. We collect and use those categories of Personal Information about you for human resources and other business management purposes, including identifying and evaluating you as a candidate for potential or future employment or future positions, recordkeeping in relation to recruiting and hiring, conducting criminal background checks as permitted by law, conducting analytics, and ensuring compliance with applicable legal requirements and Company policies. By submitting your application, you acknowledge that we may retain some of the personal data that you provide in your application for our internal operations such as managing our recruitment system and ensuring that we comply with labor laws and regulations even after we have made our employment decision.

Notice To Third Party Agencies: Alarm.com understands the value of professional recruiting services. However, we are not accepting resumes from recruiters or employment agencies for this position. In the event we receive a resume or candidate referral for this position from a third-party recruiter or agency without a previously signed agreement, we reserve the right to pursue and hire those candidate(s) without any financial obligation to you. If you are interested in working with Alarm.com, please email your company information and standard agreement to View email address on click.appcast.io.

The base salary range of this opportunity is listed below and is determined within a range based on factors including qualifications, location and experience. This allows opportunity for growth and development within the role. The base salary offered is part of a total compensation package.

$165,000 - $185,000 USD