Senior Principal Embedded Systems Architect

Schneider Electric; Lake Forest (CA); On-site; USD 169,000 - 253,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

Paid time off

401(k) + match

Job summary

Schneider Electric is seeking a Senior Principal Embedded Systems Architect in the United States. You will define the architectural vision for complex, connected products, aligning system and software architectures with business strategy and customer needs.

You will drive roadmaps across hardware, embedded software, connectivity, cybersecurity, and cloud integration. You will lead technical governance, establish standards, and mentor engineers to deliver secure, reliable, and high-performing

Qualifications

• Define end-to-end system architectures for complex embedded products.
• Create and analyze product use cases, operational concepts, system requirements, and feature specifications.
• Balance product functionality, safety, cybersecurity, performance, cost, schedule, lifecycle, and maintainability in architectural decisions.
• Extensive experience designing embedded software architectures for real-time, high-reliability, safety-critical systems.
• Deep understanding of RTOS-based and bare-metal architecture.
• Strong knowledge of C and C++, with hands-on experience; ASM knowledge a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead architectural roadmaps spanning hardware, embedded software, connectivity, cybersecurity, cloud integration, and system-level capabilities.
• Establish architectural standards, define quality attributes, and ensure consistency across product lines.
• Drive adoption of advanced technologies, methodologies, and engineering practices to improve product functionality, UX, maintainability, security, and performance.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship across engineering organizations; guide teams through complex design decisions and tradeoffs.
• Define reliability, safety, security, and performance requirements; foster built-in quality throughout the lifecycle.

Skills

End-to-end architecture

Embedded architecture

RTOS-based systems

C/C++ programming

Multicore processing

Security

Cross-functional leadership

Architecture governance

Technical leadership

Problem solving

Job description

Senior Principal Embedded Systems Architect

As a Senior Principal Systems Architect, you define and drive the architectural vision for complex, connected product ecosystems, with deep specialization in embedded software architecture. You ensure enterprise-wide alignment of system and software architectures with business strategy, customer needs, and emerging technology standards while enabling scalable, secure, reliable, and high-performing solutions across product portfolios.

What will you do?

You lead the development of architectural roadmaps that span hardware, embedded software, connectivity, cybersecurity, cloud integration, and system-level capabilities. Working closely with Solution Architects, Enterprise Architects, Product Management, Engineering, and cross-functional stakeholders, you establish architectural standards, define quality attributes, and ensure consistency across product lines. You integrate customer insights, market trends, and technology advancements into architectural decisions that deliver differentiated customer value and support long-term business growth.

As a recognized technical authority in embedded systems and system architecture, you drive the adoption of advanced technologies, methodologies, and engineering practices that improve product functionality, user experience, maintainability, security, and operational performance. You balance strategic architectural leadership with deep technical engagement, guiding the design and implementation of complex embedded software platforms, real-time systems, edge computing solutions, connectivity frameworks, and intelligent system capabilities.

You serve as a subject matter expert whose influence extends across multiple business and operational areas. You address highly complex and ambiguous technical challenges that span system, software, and platform domains, leveraging deep industry expertise and architectural knowledge to develop innovative solutions. You establish reliability, safety, security, and performance requirements while fostering a culture of built-in quality throughout the product lifecycle.

Most of your work involves defining advanced architectural frameworks, technical strategies, governance models, and engineering practices that guide product development and technology evolution. You evaluate technology investments, assess emerging industry trends, and provide strategic recommendations that have significant short- and medium-term impact on product portfolios, technology direction, and organizational capabilities.

You provide technical leadership and mentorship across engineering organizations, helping teams clarify complex requirements, evaluate architectural tradeoffs, and make informed decisions in uncertain or rapidly evolving environments. Through your expertise in both systems architecture and embedded software architecture, you ensure that products are technically robust, strategically aligned, and positioned for future innovation and growth.

What are the key skills we are looking for?

• Define, communicate and maintain system and embedded software architecture strategies across platforms and product lines.


• Develop long-term architectural roadmaps aligned with business objectives, customer needs, market direction and technology evolution.


• Ensure architectural consistency, scalability, security, reliability, safety, and quality across products and platforms.


• Lead architecture reviews and governance for complex embedded and software-intensive systems.


• Drive innovation through adoption of emerging technologies, development methodologies, tools, and architectural patterns.


• Partner with Solution Architects, Enterprise Architects, Product Management, and Engineering leaders to align product and organizational capabilities.


• Translate customer, market, and business requirements into robust system and software architecture.


• Provide technical leadership for complex architectural challenges, guiding teams through critical design decisions and tradeoffs.


• Establish architecture standards, reference architectures, and best practices for embedded software and system development.


• Influence strategic technology decisions that shape future product platforms and organizational technical direction.

What qualifications will make you successful?

• E Experience defining end-to-end system architectures for complex embedded products.


• Demonstrated ability to create and analyze product use cases, operational concepts, system requirements, and feature specifications.


• Strong understanding of requirements decomposition, interface definition, bidirectional traceability, architectural modeling, and verification planning.


• Ability to balance product functionality, safety, cybersecurity, performance, cost, schedule, lifecycle, and maintainability in architectural decisions.


• Extensive experience designing embedded software architectures for real-time, high-reliability, high availability and safety-critical systems.


• Deep understanding of RTOS-based and bare-metal architecture.


• Strong knowledge of the C programming language and object-oriented programming principles, with hands‑on experience developing embedded software in C and C++. Knowledge of ASM is a plus.


• Experience with multicore processing, task allocation and affinity, inter‑process communication, memory management, bootloaders, board‑support packages, device drivers, middleware, and diagnostics.


• Ability to establish scalable and maintainable software frameworks that support product‑line reuse and long‑term evolution.

Impact & Scope

• Recognized enterprise-wide expert in systems and embedded software architecture.


• Influences technology strategy and architectural direction across multiple product portfolios.


• Solves highly complex technical and business challenges with significant organizational impact.


• Drives technical excellence, innovation, and long‑term platform sustainability across the organization.


• Provides leadership in uncertain or rapidly evolving situations, developing actionable recommendations that enable informed business and engineering decisions.

At Schneider, we believe that every employee is a talent who deserves equal opportunities. This means you matter. Every individual needs to feel valued, supported, and treated fairly to do their best work.

Our Total Rewards is our way of saying: “We see you. We value you”. It’s more than just pay and benefits- it’s a meaningful investment in you. It is designed for you to perform, grow, feel safe, and elevate your potential to shine as an impact maker.

For this U.S. based position, the expected pay range is USD 168,800 - USD 253,200 per year. This pay range includes base pay and short-term incentives. The compensation range for this full-time position applies to candidates located within the United States. Our pay ranges are determined by reviewing roles of similar responsibility and level. Within the pay range, individual pay is determined by several factors including performance, knowledge, job‑related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

Schneider Electric is there when it matters most to you

Our Total Rewards package outlines all the benefits and support you’ll enjoy as part of the Schneider Electric team:

Care for Yourself and Your Family. We ensure you feel secure with benefits that help you and your family thrive: medical (with member reward points), dental, vision, and basic life insurance, Benefit Bucks (credits to apply towards your benefits), flexible work arrangements, paid family leaves, well-being programs, 12 holidays per year, 20 days of paid time off per year (pro‑rated in the first year of employment based on start date).

Invest and Plan Your Future. We help you plan and invest for the future with competitive pay and programs: your base salary, short‑term incentives or sales incentives, opportunities to own company shares (eligibility depends on start date), and 401(k) + match.

Grow Your Skills and Career. We commit to helping you grow with ongoing performance and development conversations, Senior Talent Program, global career opportunities, access to our Schneider Career Hub for new positions, projects, and mentors, and learning platforms like Coursera to equip you with the skills for today and tomorrow.

Team Up in the Workplace. We encourage teaming up through project opportunities on the Schneider Career Hub, smart ways to collaborate, celebrating contributions via a recognition program (including service anniversary), sharing your voice in our engagement survey, and fostering an inclusive, caring workplace.

Support Your Community. We make a difference in your community with volunteer leave, programs through the Schneider Electric Foundation, initiatives that support youth education, and military leave benefits.

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We are looking for IMPACT Makers; exceptional people who turn sustainability ambitions into actions at the intersection of automation, electrification, and digitization. We celebrate IMPACT Makers and believe everyone has the potential to be one.

€40 billion global revenue
+9% organic growth
150 000+ employees in 100+ countries

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