Senior Firmware Automation Engineer

Kohler; Pune District; On-site; INR 2,800,000 - 3,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Kohler is seeking a Senior QA Firmware Automation Engineer to lead test automation for IoT-enabled products. You will drive firmware reliability, validate protocols, and collaborate with Firmware, Hardware, DevOps, and Product Engineering teams.

The role focuses on designing scalable automation frameworks, HIL testing, and CI/CD integration to enable faster release cycles across embedded platforms.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electronics, Electronics & Instrumentation, Computer Engineering, or related field.
• Master's degree preferred.
• ISTQB Foundation Certification (preferred).
• 5-8 years of experience in embedded firmware testing, automation, and validation.

Responsibilities

• Lead firmware validation and test automation activities for IoT-enabled and connected products, ensuring product quality across firmware, system, integration, and regression testing.
• Design, develop, maintain, and enhance Python-based firmware automation frameworks, reusable libraries, test scripts, and reporting mechanisms to support scalable automation solutions.
• Develop and execute automated test strategies for embedded products, covering firmware, system-level, integration, and end-to-end validation scenarios.
• Automate and validate communication protocols including MQTT, Modbus, BLE, Zigbee, UART, SPI, I2C, RS485 and TCP/IP to ensure reliable device connectivity and interoperability.
• Perform firmware validation across Linux, RTOS, and Non-RTOS platforms, ensuring robust functionality and performance.
• Integrate automated test execution into CI/CD pipelines to enable continuous testing and faster release cycles.
• Drive Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing, hardware-software integration, and end-to-end IoT product validation for connected systems.
• Utilize hardware and protocol analysis tools to debug, troubleshoot, and resolve complex firmware and communication issues.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to improve test coverage, automation efficiency, and overall product quality throughout the development lifecycle.

Skills

Python scripting

Embedded firmware testing

Test automation

CI/CD integration

Linux/RTOS

Protocol validation

Hardware-software integration

IoT testing

Education

Bachelor's in Electronics / Computer Engineering

Master's degree preferred

ISTQB Foundation Certification

Tools

Python Automation Frameworks

Azure DevOps

Robot Framework

Git/GitHub

Jira

Job description

Senior Firmware Automation Engineer

• Department: Electrical & Electronics Engineering
• Team: Quality Assurance (QA)
• Reports To: QA Manager

Job description

• We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior QA Firmware Automation Engineer to lead quality assurance initiatives for IoT-enabled and connected products. This role will drive test automation, ensure firmware reliability, and enhance quality engineering practices across the product lifecycle.
• The candidate should have strong expertise in embedded firmware testing, automation framework development, communication protocol validation, and IoT ecosystem testing, along with a solid understanding of hardware-software integration.
• The candidate should possess hands-on experience in designing, developing, and maintaining scalable firmware automation frameworks, reusable automation libraries, automated test harnesses, and validation solutions for embedded and connected products.
• candidate will collaborate with Firmware, Hardware, DevOps, and Product Engineering teams to develop automated test strategies and validate firmware functionality, device connectivity, interoperability, performance, reliability, and end-to-end embedded system behaviour.

Job Responsibilities

• Lead firmware validation and test automation activities for IoT-enabled and connected products, ensuring product quality across firmware, system, integration, and regression testing.
• Design, develop, maintain, and enhance Python-based firmware automation frameworks, reusable libraries, test scripts, and reporting mechanisms to support scalable automation solutions.
• Develop and execute automated test strategies for embedded products, covering firmware, system-level, integration, and end-to-end validation scenarios.
• Automate and validate communication protocols including MQTT, Modbus, BLE, Zigbee, UART, SPI, I2C, RS485 and TCP/IP to ensure reliable device connectivity and interoperability.
• Perform firmware validation across Linux, RTOS, and Non-RTOS platforms, ensuring robust functionality and performance.
• Integrate automated test execution into CI/CD pipelines to enable continuous testing and faster release cycles.
• Drive Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing, hardware-software integration, and end-to-end IoT product validation for connected systems.
• Utilize hardware and protocol analysis tools to debug, troubleshoot, and resolve complex firmware and communication issues.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to improve test coverage, automation efficiency, and overall product quality throughout the development lifecycle.

Technical Skills -

Experience

• 5+ years of experience in Embedded Firmware Testing, Validation, and Test Automation for embedded and connected products.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience in Python scripting and automation framework development.
• Proven expertise in designing, developing, maintaining, and enhancing scalable firmware automation frameworks.
• Experience in developing reusable automation libraries, test harnesses, device abstraction layers, and validation utilities.
• Strong understanding of framework architecture, modularization, code reusability, and automation best practices.
• Hands-on experience integrating automation frameworks with embedded hardware, communication interfaces, and firmware validation environments.
• Experience implementing data-driven, configuration-driven, and scalable automation solutions.
• Proficiency in automated test execution, logging, reporting, result analytics, and test metrics generation.
• Strong knowledge of framework optimization, maintainability, scalability, and long-term supportability.
• Experience integrating firmware automation frameworks with CI/CD pipelines to support continuous testing and release validation.
• Proven ability to automate firmware, system, integration, regression, and end-to-end validation testing for embedded and IoT products.

Programming

• Strong programming skills inPython(Mandatory).
• Sound knowledge ofC/C++and scripting concepts.

Embedded Systems

• Linux, RTOS, and Non-RTOS platforms.
• 16-bit and 32-bit Microcontrollers.
• Embedded firmware validation, verification, and automation.
• Hardware-software integration testing.

Protocols & Connectivity

• MQTT, Modbus
• UART, RS232, RS485
• SPI, I2C
• BLE, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
• TCP/IP, Ethernet
• HTTP/HTTPS, REST APIs, FTP

Automation & DevOps

• PyTest
• Robot Framework
• Custom Python Automation Frameworks
• CI/CD Integration
• Azure DevOps
• Git/GitHub
• Jira
• Confluence

Hardware Debugging Tools

• Oscilloscope
• Logic Analyzer
• Protocol Analyzers
• Multimeter
• Wireshark
• MQTT Explorer

Soft Skills and Communication

• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Experience mentoring and coaching QA engineers.
• Ability to drive automation initiatives across teams.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Experience working with global and cross-functional teams.
• Proficient in MS Office tools (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).
• Familiarity with Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and CMMI practices is desirable.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Electronics, Electronics & Instrumentation, Computer Engineering, or related field.
• Master's degree preferred.
• 5-8 years of experience in embedded firmware testing, automation, and validation.
• ISTQB Foundation Certification (preferred).

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Preferred Domain Experience Candidates

• Smart Home Products, IoT Devices & Connected Consumer Products
• Building Automation, Residential & Commercial Control Systems
• Embedded Systems, Firmware Development & Embedded Product Validation
• Consumer Electronics, Appliances & Electrical Products
• Industrial Automation, Controls & Electronic Manufacturing