Senior Embedded Linux & Real-Time Systems Engineer

Sonos LLC; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 165,000 - 206,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance

401(k) plan with company matching

Open Time Off policy (OTO)

Sick time

Up to 12 paid holidays per calendar yr

Disability, Life, and AD&D Insurance

Voluntary benefits

Mental health benefits

Employee discount program

Sonos Radio HD

Job summary

Sonos is seeking a highly skilled embedded firmware engineer to design and implement real-time system software for audio devices. You will work across ARM-based SoCs, U-Boot boot flows, and embedded Linux to bring up hardware, develop drivers, and optimize performance.

You will collaborate with hardware and software teams, contribute to BSP validation, and help modernize OS components while supporting scalable prototyping on multiple platforms.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science or related field.
• 8+ years of professional experience developing firmware/system software for embedded systems.
• Strong proficiency in C/C++ (Python is a plus).
• Significant experience with embedded Linux, kernel internals, and device driver development.
• Experience bringing up and debugging systems using U-Boot and common boot flows.
• Experience with toolchain and debug tooling (gcc, binutils, gdb).
• Experience designing and developing software/firmware using Free-RTOS as developing bare-metal applications for microcontrollers
• Strong debugging capability using tools such as JTAG, logic analyzers, and oscilloscopes.
• Proven ability to build performance-critical software in resource-constrained environments.
• Proficiency with Yocto Project / OpenEmbedded workflows.
• Strong understanding of Linux execution contexts and concurrency, including locking/mutexes, SMP behavior, and kernel/user boundaries.
• Familiarity with interfaces such as: DDR, NAND, PCIe, Ethernet, USB SPI, I2C, UART, I2S, TCP/IP, Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth/BLE

Responsibilities

• Design and implement real-time system software architectures leveraging SMP and AMP for embedded audio systems.
• Bring up, debug, and maintain bootloader (U-Boot) and embedded Linux across new hardware platforms.
• Lead early board bring-up and debug of new PCBs using ARM SoCs, WiSoCs, BT SoCs, and microcontrollers.
• Develop and maintain Linux kernel drivers across subsystems, interfaces, and peripherals.
• Integrate vendor SDKs, BSP components, and OS modules into the build and release process.
• Develop and maintain HAL libraries enabling clean, testable interfaces between hardware and user space.
• Identify platform gaps relative to hardware capabilities and product requirements; propose and deliver improvements to enable faster prototyping and evaluation of new hardware.
• Contribute to BSP validation and system-level debugging across HW/SW boundaries.
• Define, execute, and document unit and integration testing for system software components.
• Partner with silicon and component vendors to coordinate support and resolve platform issues across CPU/radio SoCs, MCU/PIC, NPU/GPU, and peripheral devices.
• Support hardware engineering teams with deep technical debugging and contribute to OS/platform modernization efforts.

Skills

C/C++

Embedded Linux

Kernel development

U-Boot

Yocto/OpenEmbedded

ARM SoCs

JTAG debugging

GCC toolchain

Python

Concurrency/SMP

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science or related field

Tools

gcc

binutils

gdb

Yocto Project

OpenEmbedded

Job description

Sonos is seeking a highly skilled embedded firmware engineer to design and implement real-time system software for audio devices. You will work across ARM-based SoCs, U-Boot boot flows, and embedded Linux to bring up hardware, develop drivers, and optimize performance.

You will collaborate with hardware and software teams, contribute to BSP validation, and help modernize OS components while supporting scalable prototyping on multiple platforms.