Senior Firmware Developer

Jobtailor; Victoria; On-site; CAD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor is seeking a Lead Firmware Architect to drive embedded software for MCUs, from bare-metal to RTOS-based systems. You will design modular firmware, implement drivers, and optimize concurrency with RTOS primitives.

The role requires strong C/C++ expertise, hands-on debugging, and experience guiding cross-functional teams through qualification and production release. Based in Canada, this role emphasizes reliability and long-term maintenance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or closely related discipline.
• Minimum 7 years of relevant embedded systems and production firmware experience.
• Proven record architecting, developing, debugging, and releasing microcontroller-based embedded products.
• Advanced proficiency in embedded C/C++ for memory- and resource-constrained systems.
• Strong communication skills and cross-functional collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Lead firmware architecture for embedded products from bare-metal to RTOS-based systems.
• Translate requirements into firmware designs, interfaces, and hardware abstractions.
• Develop device drivers, board-support software, and communication interfaces in C/C++.
• Ensure safe concurrency with RTOS tasks, queues, mutexes, and interrupts.
• Review code, diagnose issues, and guide field-deployment and support teams.

Skills

Embedded C/C++ Development

RTOS Implementation

Firmware Architecture Design

Microcontroller-Based Systems

Debugging and Troubleshooting

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a closely related discipline

Tools

Oscilloscope

Logic Analyzer

Protocol Analyzer

CI/CD Systems

Static-Analysis Tools

Job description

• Lead firmware architecture for embedded products ranging from bare-metal systems to multi-threaded RTOS-based applications
• Translate product and system requirements into firmware designs, interfaces, task structures, state machines, and hardware abstraction layers
• Evaluate design tradeoffs involving performance, memory, power, reliability, complexity, reuse, and long-term maintainability
• Define modular and reusable firmware components across product families and hardware platforms
• Design, implement, review, and maintain production embedded software in C/C++ for microcontroller-based products
• Develop device drivers, board-support software, communications interfaces, control logic, data acquisition, storage, and scheduled transmission functions
• Implement safe concurrency using RTOS tasks, queues, mutexes, semaphores, timers, and interrupt-driven designs
• Maintain build configurations, source control practices, technical documentation, and reproducible firmware build outputs
• Partner with electronic designers on processor, peripheral, memory, power-control, and communication requirements
• Read schematics and datasheets, bring up new boards, and validate UART, SPI, I2C, USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth/BLE, cellular, and satellite interfaces
• Diagnose board- and system-level issues using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, debuggers, and protocol analyzers
• Troubleshoot interactions among firmware, PCBs, sensors, power supplies, communications modules, and electromechanical assemblies
• Develop unit, integration, hardware-in-the-loop, regression, fault-injection, and long-duration tests
• Review code and designs for correctness, concurrency hazards, resource use, error recovery, maintainability, and testability
• Design for reliable operation through communication loss, peripheral faults, power interruptions, brownouts, watchdog resets, and other field conditions
• Work with QA and product validation teams to investigate defects, reproduce failures, and verify corrective actions
• Support firmware through prototype builds, formal qualification, production release, configuration control, and field deployment
• Produce release-ready firmware packages, release notes, build records, and technical evidence
• Lead root-cause analysis for production and field failures and implement corrective actions
• Support legacy product sustainment, including component changes, hardware revisions, defect correction, cybersecurity updates, and technical debt reduction
• Use field, service, and test feedback to guide design improvements and future platform decisions

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a closely related discipline
• Minimum 7 years of relevant experience developing embedded systems and production firmware
• Proven record of architecting, developing, debugging, and releasing microcontroller-based embedded products
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with demonstrated success working within and across functional teams
• Advanced proficiency in embedded C/C++ and experience with memory-constrained, resource-constrained systems
• System-level firmware architecture experience, from task scheduling and application logic through low-level device drivers and hardware abstraction layers
• Hands-on experience with an RTOS and multi-threaded systems, including synchronization, inter-task communication, timing, and concurrency debugging
• Experience with structured design, modular code, interface design, code reuse, and maintainable embedded software practices
• Strong understanding of interrupts, timers, DMA, memory management, boot processes, watchdogs, and embedded fault handling
• Must be eligible to work in Canada without company sponsorship, now or in the future, for employment-based work authorization
• Preferred: low-power environmental monitoring, remote sensing, industrial IoT, dataloggers, or telemetry products
• Preferred: sensor acquisition and instrumentation interfaces such as SDI-12, 4-20 mA, pulse, analog, or serial sensors
• Preferred: reliable local data storage, file systems, databases, data integrity, and recovery from unexpected power loss
• Preferred: embedded graphical user interfaces using TouchGFX, Qt, or similar frameworks
• Preferred: Embedded Linux, Contiki OS, Kotlin, Python, or scripting used for development and automated testing
• Preferred: CI/CD systems such as Jenkins and static-analysis or code-quality tools
• Preferred: secure communications, device update mechanisms, cybersecurity practices, or connected-device provisioning
• Preferred: regulated, ruggedized, high-reliability, or long-lifecycle products used in remote or harsh environments

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in firmware architecture and development for embedded systems, with a strong focus on C/C++ programming, RTOS implementation, and system-level design. Proven ability to lead projects, troubleshoot complex issues, and ensure high reliability in production firmware.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Embedded C/C++ Development
• RTOS Implementation
• Firmware Architecture Design
• Microcontroller-Based Systems
• Debugging and Troubleshooting

ATS Optimization Keywords

Hard Skills

• Firmware Design
• Device Driver Development
• Task Scheduling
• Concurrency Debugging
• Memory Management
• Code Review
• Unit Testing
• Integration Testing
• Fault Handling
• Technical Documentation

Soft Skills

• Excellent Communication Skills
• Team Collaboration

Industry Keywords

• Embedded Systems
• Low-Power Environmental Monitoring
• Industrial IoT
• Telemetry Products
• Cybersecurity Practices

Tools & Technologies

• Oscilloscope
• Logic Analyzer
• Protocol Analyzer
• CI/CD Systems
• Static-Analysis Tools