R&D - Senior Firmware Technical Leader - IoT Systems

Job Description:
Duracell has an exciting opportunity for a Senior Firmware Technical Leader to join our growing team developing new products and features in our expanding IoT offerings. We are looking for a seasoned Senior Firmware Engineer Developer with a specialty in developing solutions for IoT RF-enabled SoC hardware platforms, focusing on machine learning feature integration, diverse sensor integration, IoT systems, and use of varied wired/wireless communication protocols. This role seeks an individual with expert experience in coding, testing, and debugging firmware for new feature creation, optimizing existing code, as well as a proficiency in delivering time-sensitive projects. In this role, you will lead design and development on select features and optimize battery-operated embedded systems. You will mentor junior engineers and collaborate closely with the firmware group and the cross-functional squads to deliver scalable, secure, and reliable IoT solutions that meet and exceed the needs of our customers.  This role is based in Atlanta with up to 20% domestic travel.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the design and development of select embedded features; actively contribute to product development, deep investigations, design, coding, and testing.
• Design and develop features in embedded applications, specifically focusing on IoT sensors, connectivity hardware, data ingestion and analysis, ML features integration, along with cloud service communications.
• Create reusable components to significantly reduce device firmware development time.
• Develop and optimize IoT system architectures for scalability, performance, and reliability, considering factors such as data volume, latency, optimal protocols, intermittent connections, etc. 
• Conduct system-level testing and validation and automation of IoT solutions, analyzing performance metrics and addressing any issues or deficiencies through iterative refinement and optimization.
• Contribute to innovation in our IoT platform through research, experimentation, and evaluation of emerging technologies and industry trends.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior engineers, fostering a culture of collaboration, trust, integrity, ownership and innovation.
• Develop and optimize code for low power SoC platforms, implementing new functionality, along with machine learning features using diverse low power sensors.
• Creating efficient code for data capture, processing, and reporting, used for incorporating new feature functionalities.
• Code for and implementing various wireless communication protocols primarily Wi-Fi, but may include BLE, Zigbee, NFC, LoRa, and others.
• Design and test new firmware features, ensuring they meet functional and performance requirements.
• Demonstrate the ability to read hardware schematics and use common debugging tools including oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, emulators, and signal generators.
• Exhibit strong debugging skills to identify and resolve firmware issues quickly and efficiently.
• Evaluate and optimize the performance of firmware, focusing on real-time data processing and transmission.
• Expert working with real-time operating systems (RTOS) to ensure seamless firmware functionality for data and memory intensive activities.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure integrated and effective solutions.
• Other duties as assigned.

Required Skills and Experience:

• Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, Electrical Engineering, or related field. Or equivalent professional experience. 
• Minimum 7+ years of relevant experience in firmware development, with a strong emphasis on IoT systems, data processing, and associated communication protocols.
• 5+ years of experience in FreeRTOS, Zephyr or similar.
• Strong coding skills with 7+ years of experience with embedded C.
• In-depth knowledge and hands-on experience with Wi-Fi or other wireless technologies.
• Deep understanding of data structures such as JSON and transmission protocols such as UDP, MQTT, etc.
• Experience in coding for interfacing with cloud services and IoT platforms
• Proven debugging and problem-solving abilities in a firmware development context and associated tools.
• Ability to evaluate and enhance firmware performance, especially in real-time operating environments.
• Strong background in both hardware and software aspects of embedded systems and IoT technologies.
• Experience with real-time operating systems and understanding their impact on firmware development.
• Excellent time management skills, with the ability to prioritize tasks and work under tight deadlines.
• Proven track record of building, mentoring and leading firmware teams.

Desirable Qualifications:

• Additional programming language skills (Rust, Python, C++, etc.) beneficial for IoT development and data analysis.
• Experience coding for battery operated hardware designs with tight power constraints.
• Previous work on large-scale, high-impact firmware projects.
• Familiarity with security protocols and best practices for IoT devices.
• Experience leveraging continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, along with GitHub.
• Knowledge of machine learning algorithms and their implementation on embedded systems.
• Understanding of regulatory compliance requirements for IoT devices.