Lead Firmware Engineer

Job Description

Job Description

Work Model: Fully onsite (daily in-office presence required)

Location Preference: West Michigan area preferred (relocation available for strong candidates; local candidates strongly preferred)

Employment Type: Full-time, direct hire

Minimum Experience: 6+ years embedded software/firmware development experience

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

Work Authorization: Must be authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship, or eligible candidates may be considered for sponsorship in exceptional cases

Role Summary

A client in the West Michigan area is seeking a Lead Firmware Engineer to serve as a hands-on technical leader responsible for developing and delivering embedded software for complex hardware-integrated products.

This role combines deep embedded engineering expertise with technical leadership responsibilities, including mentoring a small engineering team of 4–5 engineers. The position is a “player-coach” role, requiring active involvement in coding, debugging, and system design while also guiding team execution and engineering practices.

The engineer will collaborate closely with hardware, product, and cross-functional engineering teams to design, implement, test, and deliver embedded solutions across the full product lifecycle.

This is a fully onsite role requiring daily in-office presence, with relocation support available for qualified candidates.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain embedded software and firmware for hardware-integrated systems
• Lead and mentor a team of 4–5 engineers, providing technical guidance and code-level support
• Actively contribute to hands-on development, debugging, and system troubleshooting
• Develop software in C (primary) and C++ (preferred) for embedded systems
• Work closely with hardware teams to integrate software with sensors, cameras, processors, and other hardware components
• Develop and support systems running on Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) and/or embedded Linux
• Participate in full software development lifecycle activities, from requirements gathering through validation and release
• Ensure software quality through testing, debugging, and performance optimization
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including hardware, product, and manufacturing engineering
• Use tools such as Git, Bitbucket, Jenkins, JIRA, or Azure DevOps for development and workflow management
• Contribute to system architecture discussions and technical decision-making
• Support development of features across multimedia, camera systems, wireless (Wi-Fi/BLE), or similar embedded domains where applicable
• Drive engineering best practices and continuous improvement across the team

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field
• 6+ years of experience in embedded software or firmware development
• Strong proficiency in C programming (required) ; C++ experience preferred
• Experience developing software that interfaces directly with hardware components
• Strong experience with embedded systems and hardware/software integration
• Experience with Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) and/or embedded Linux
• Hands-on experience with debugging, testing, and full product lifecycle development
• Experience working with hardware components such as sensors, cameras, processors, or similar systems
• Familiarity with development tools such as Git, Bitbucket, Jenkins, JIRA, or Azure DevOps
• Experience mentoring or informally leading engineers
• Strong communication and collaboration skills across engineering teams
• Ability to balance hands-on technical work with team leadership responsibilities

Leadership Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of 4–5 embedded engineers
• Provide technical coaching and code-level guidance
• Support career development and performance growth of team members
• Foster collaboration and accountability within the engineering team
• Act as a technical escalation point for complex engineering challenges
• Help define engineering standards and development practices
• Balance 50–60% hands-on engineering with 40–50% leadership responsibilities

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in industries such as automotive, consumer electronics, medical devices, aerospace, industrial automation, robotics, or IoT
• Automotive embedded systems experience (ADAS, ECUs, sensors) is a plus
• Experience with multimedia systems, image processing, or wireless technologies (Wi-Fi/BLE)
• Experience working in highly hardware-integrated product environments

Compensation & Work Model

• Full-time direct hire position
• Fully onsite role (daily in-office presence required)
• Relocation assistance available for qualified candidates
• Visa sponsorship may be considered for exceptional candidates
• Target commute: within ~30–40 minutes of West Michigan site
• Must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. (standard requirement; sponsorship evaluated case-by-case)
• Company is actively hiring and seeking to fill the role quickly