Principal Firmware Engineer

Job Description

Principal Firmware Engineer
In Office | Westlake Village, California
Salary Range: $165,000 to $210,000

This is not a maintenance role. This is an ownership role.

We are looking for a Principal Firmware Engineer who can architect, lead, and deliver firmware for complex consumer and healthcare products. You will own firmware decisions end to end, from early concept through product launch and beyond, working closely with hardware, industrial design, UX, and external manufacturing partners.

If you thrive in embedded systems, enjoy solving hard problems at the hardware level, and want real influence over product direction, this role gives you that seat at the table.

What You Will Own

• Serve as the technical authority for firmware across multiple products
• Define and own firmware architecture from concept through production
• Lead product development efforts independently with minimal supervision
• Write high quality embedded code, including new features, enhancements, and bug fixes
• Develop test applications, formal requirements, and technical documentation
• Support system level analysis and troubleshooting across firmware and hardware
• Estimate development timelines and deliver against commitments
• Partner closely with test teams to identify, debug, and resolve issues quickly
• Collaborate with external contractors, suppliers, and overseas partners
• Maintain strict confidentiality of proprietary and sensitive information
• Support productization, manufacturing bring up, and global product launches

Job Requirements

What You Bring

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related technical field
• 7+ years of firmware engineering experience in product-driven environments
• Strong embedded C programming skills
• Hands-on experience with ARM based processors
• Experience working with RTOS platforms such as FreeRTOS and Zephyr
• Proficiency with modern development tools, including VS Code, WSL, West, CMake, GNU, Git, Jira
• Deep experience with microcontrollers, embedded systems, and serial communication protocols (USART, I2C, SPI)
• Strong low level debugging skills using JTAG and similar tools
• Ability to read and interpret schematics
• Proven experience with hardware bring up and early stage prototypes
• Experience supporting device productization and market launch
• Experience with radio based applications including cellular connectivity
• Solid understanding of power management and optimization strategies
• Familiarity with IoT architecture is a plus
• Strong understanding of structured product development processes and phase gates
• Advanced working knowledge of Microsoft tools including Teams, Excel, Visio, Project, and Word
• Ability to travel internationally up to 10 percent

Why This Role

• Principal level ownership with real architectural authority
• High impact work in consumer and healthcare technology
• Direct collaboration with hardware, design, and manufacturing teams
• In office environment with hands on product development
• Competitive compensation aligned with senior level expertise

If you are a firmware leader who wants to build products from the ground up and see them shipped into the world, this role is built for you.