Director of Embedded Firmware Engineering

Loop Earplugs; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 80,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

Loop Earplugs is seeking a seasoned embedded software leader to helm firmware across connected earwear products. You’ll own delivery, quality, and team capability, balancing architectural ambition with practical release discipline.

You will line‑manage a growing team, stay hands‑on when needed, and drive cross‑functional decisions with hardware, manufacturing, and QA to ship reliable firmware at scale.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience developing embedded software, including 2+ years managing embedded or firmware engineers.
• Experience owning firmware delivery against a hardware programme schedule, including manufacturing and test firmware production.
• Deep expertise in embedded C/C++, RTOS, Bluetooth and wireless connectivity, microcontroller peripherals, low‑power design, and firmware architecture.
• Strong debugging skills and hands‑on experience with CI and HIL for hardware‑dependent delivery.
• Practical experience using AI tools in software development or verification, and a clear view on where they help and where they need guardrails in embedded work.
• Enough knowledge of DSP and on‑device machine learning to resource and review that work credibly.
• The ability to turn objectives into practical delivery and resource plans, balancing people, capacity, cost, and commitments.
• Clear, direct communication of firmware risks and recommendations to technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Nice to have: experience with hearables, audio, or body‑worn wearables; hands‑on DSP or on‑device machine learning; security or regulatory compliance for connected devices.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of embedded software engineers, setting clear level‑referenced expectations and addressing performance early.
• Plan workforce, capacity, tooling, rigs, fixtures, and lab resources to meet commitments, managing priorities and costs within Loop’s approval policy.
• Own firmware delivery across development and sustaining work, including bring‑up, manufacturing and test firmware, launch readiness, field issues, security updates, and sustaining releases.
• Ensure clear ownership and acceptance evidence for factory firmware, flashing, provisioning, and version compatibility.
• Estimate and resource work, surface risk early, and own release readiness decisions, including rollout, pause, and rollback.
• Maintain strong engineering standards across coding, review, testing, CI, hardware‑in‑the‑loop (HIL), security, and traceability, working within Loop’s Requirements and Risk Management Frameworks.
• Represent embedded software in programme, design, build‑readiness, and sustaining forums, owning firmware estimates, dependencies, risks, and readiness judgement.
• Drive cross‑system decisions with Engineering, Quality, Industrialisation, suppliers, silicon vendors, and manufacturing partners.
• Lead architecture and design reviews that reach a conclusion on trade‑offs, and translate roadmap objectives into clear technical direction.

Skills

Embedded C/C++

RTOS

Bluetooth / Wireless

Firmware architecture

Leadership / mentoring

Cross-functional collaboration

Debugging / troubleshooting

First-principles reasoning

AI in development

DSP knowledge

Hearables experience

DSP / ML on-device

Security/regulatory for wearables

Tools

CI/CD

HIL

Testing frameworks

Hardware bring-up

Job description

Loop Earplugs is seeking a seasoned embedded software leader to helm firmware across connected earwear products. You’ll own delivery, quality, and team capability, balancing architectural ambition with practical release discipline.

You will line‑manage a growing team, stay hands‑on when needed, and drive cross‑functional decisions with hardware, manufacturing, and QA to ship reliable firmware at scale.