Embedded Engineering Manager

WHOOP; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible vacation

18 weeks parental leave

Stock options

WHOOP membership

Health benefits (medical, dental, vis

Wellness stipend $500 annually

Sleep bonus $100/month

Office in Boston - rooftop views

Job summary

WHOOP is hiring an Embedded Engineering Manager to build and lead a new embedded team for a next-gen wearable. The role blends technical leadership with people management, guiding firmware from prototype to production in a multi-disciplinary environment with Product, Design, Hardware, and Quality.

You will mentor staff, manage contract vs full-time engineers, shape delivery cadence, and collaborate with senior engineers on architecture while hands-on when needed.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with an RTOS (Zephyr, FreeRTOS, or similar).
• 5+ years of embedded firmware development in C or C++.
• Experience as an engineering manager or team lead responsible for mentorship, feedback, and career development.

Skills

RTOS experience

Firmware leadership

C/C++

Communication

Mentorship

Planning in ambiguity

AI tooling

Production firmware

Tools

Zephyr

FreeRTOS

Job description

• WHOOP is hiring a Embedded Engineering Manager to build and lead a new embedded team for a next-generation wearable. The team owns the firmware that members interact with directly on the device: how it responds to them, how it presents their data, and how it feels to use every day. It takes that firmware from early prototypes through new product introduction and into production
• This role combines technical leadership with people management. You will lead a team of full-time and contract firmware engineers and grow it as the program scales. You will take part in architecture decisions with the program’s technical leads, review the team’s code, and own its delivery schedule
• You won’t be the team’s primary developer, but you will be close enough to the code to step in when it helps. You will work closely with Product, Design, Hardware, and Quality, and with the firmware teams building sensors, connectivity, and power on the same device
• Build, manage, and mentor a team of embedded engineers through hiring, onboarding, feedback, performance management, and career development
• Direct the work of contract engineers alongside full-time staff, holding both to the same design and code quality bar
• Lead the team’s delivery of the member’s on-device experience firmware, from prototype through production release
• Partner with the program’s technical lead and senior engineers on architecture for responsive, power-efficient firmware on resource-constrained multi-core hardware
• Serve as a player-coach who reviews code and shapes designs, contributing directly when the team needs it
• Own the team’s planning and delivery cadence, keeping scope, dependencies, and risk visible to partners and leadership
• Partner with Product and Design to turn member experience goals into firmware requirements that fit the hardware’s memory, compute, and power budgets
• Set engineering practices for testing, hardware-in-the-loop validation, release readiness, and field diagnostics
• Foster a culture of high standards, direct feedback, accountability, psychological safety, and continuous learning

Benefits

• Flexible Vacation: WHOOP has a flexible vacation policy that allows you to unwind, laptop-free, when you need it most.
• Focus on Family: We offer 18 weeks paid parental leave, plus an additional 2 weeks to gradually return to work.
• Get Invested: In addition to a competitive base salary and 401k, you’re eligible to receive stock options to share in the future of WHOOP.
• WHOOP +1: Everyone on the team gets a complimentary WHOOP membership—plus another membership to share with a loved one.
• Health Matters: Our competitive benefits package covers medical, dental, and vision, in addition to mental health services, life and disability insurance, and more.
• Find Your Fit: Full-time employees get $500 a year to spend on wellness in whatever way they see fit, from fitness classes and memberships, to recovery services.
• It Pays to Sleep: Our Sleep Performance Program incentivizes employees to get more sleep. Log an average sleep performance of 85% or higher for the month and get a $100 bonus.
• Location, Location, Location: You can’t beat the views from the rooftop of One Kenmore Square. Feel inspired daily as you work, enjoy free snacks and coffee, and collaborate in the heart of Boston.

• Hands-on experience with an RTOS (Zephyr, FreeRTOS, or similar)
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to explain technical tradeoffs to Product, Design, and leadership
• Demonstrated ability to plan and deliver in ambiguous environments, including early-stage hardware programs where requirements are still forming
• Strong commitment to embracing and leveraging AI tools in day-to-day tasks, ensuring AI-assisted work meets the same quality bar as personal contributions
• Experience shipping firmware in a consumer electronics product, from early hardware bring-up through production
• Experience optimizing firmware for performance, memory, and power on constrained hardware
• 5+ years of embedded firmware development in C or C++, including experience as an engineering manager or team lead responsible for mentorship, feedback, and career development
• The successful candidate must be prepared to relocate if necessary to work out of the Boston, MA office