Engineering Manager - Device Platform

tonies is the world’s leading interactive audio platform for children, with over 12 million Tonieboxes and 173 million Tonies sold globally. Our intuitive, screen-free system empowers children to learn and play independently in a safe and engaging way.

With a presence in over 100 countries and a diverse portfolio of ~1,500 Tonies across multiple languages, we continue to redefine how children experience storytelling and learning. Since our IPO in 2021, our global team of 630+ colleagues is united by a shared mission: shaping the future of play, learning, and imagination.

Engineering Manager - Device Plattform

Your Role & Impact

At tonies, we are continuously evolving our device and system architecture to strengthen the foundation for future product experiences. As Engineering Manager for the Device Platform team, you define the system architecture (RTOS, Embedded Linux, Android, or alternatives) and deliver a stable, performant firmware platform that ‘Experience teams’ can build against with confidence.

In our JDM setup, the manufacturing partner handles electronics hardware, low-level drivers, BSP, and mechanics, while your team steers platform decisions to ensure a reliable, product-grade system. You will scale our existing core team, primarily through external engineering partners, to drive our platform roadmap.

Our device architecture is feature-rich, battery-powered, and connected—requiring expertise in connectivity, sensors, tight power budgets, and real-time requirements.

What you'll do

• Team Leadership & Build-up: Take ownership of the existing team and scale it — largely through external partners — while building a cohesive engineering culture across internal staff, external engineers, and JDM partner engineers.

• Platform Selection & Architecture: Drive the programme's most consequential technical decision: choosing and validating the system platform based on product requirements, resource constraints, time-to-market, and long-term extensibility.

• JDM Steering: Act as the engineering counterpart to the JDM on electronics and firmware — defining deliverables, setting quality standards, reviewing hardware designs and drivers, and ensuring BSP drops integrate cleanly.

• Interfaces & Delivery: Experience teams specify the APIs they need; your team delivers them reliably. You turn every boundary — JDM below, experience teams above — into a testable contract rather than a coordination bottleneck.

• Leading Through Ambiguity: Requirements will shift, trade-offs will be sharp (performance vs. battery, flexibility vs. time-to-market). You keep the team productive and aligned through that uncertainty.

• Technical Credibility: Stay close enough to the firmware to challenge architectural choices, evaluate JDM deliveries with authority, and step in on critical problems yourself.

• Delivery Excellence: Own milestones, JDM integration gates, and release cadence to the experience teams — keeping the programme plannable and on track.
  

Your team's responsibilities

• Evaluating, selecting, and bringing up the system platform (RTOS, embedded Linux, Android, or hybrid)

• Owning the firmware stack above the BSP: OS configuration, middleware, system services, power management, connectivity, and security

• Delivering the APIs specified by experience teams, decoupling feature development from platform internals

• Steering the JDM on electronics and firmware: specifying deliverables, managing BSP integration, holding quality standards

• Ensuring platform stability through automated testing, integration gates, and systematic validation of JDM deliveries

• Contributing to the broader tonies® platform strategy where it makes sense

What You Bring

• Leadership: You have led engineering teams and built or significantly grown at least one. You know how to step into a small team, set direction, and scale it — including sourcing, onboarding, and managing a majority of external engineers alongside a smaller internal core.

• Leading Across Boundaries: You have run a team where external engineers are the planned model, not a temporary supplement. You know how to create shared standards, retain critical knowledge in-house, and keep partner relationships collaborative. JDM/ODM experience is a strong plus.

• Deep Embedded Platform Expertise: The core of the role. Years of hands-on experience with embedded system platforms — ideally more than one of RTOS, embedded Linux, or Android — and a well-founded opinion on when each is the right choice.

• Connected-Device Experience: You have worked on resource-constrained, battery-powered, connected devices. Power management, wireless connectivity, sensor integration, and tight hardware budgets are familiar territory.

• Architectural Vision: Modular, well-layered systems with clean separation between BSP, platform services, and application layer — so experience teams move fast without destabilising the foundation.

• The Toolbox: C/C++ is your native language. At home in Linux, comfortable with hardware-near debugging (JTAG, logic analysers), Git, GitLab, and CI/CD as daily workflow.

• Work Style: Pragmatic, technically rigorous, comfortable with ambiguity. You communicate confidently in professional English (German is a plus) and collaborate with your team in a hybrid setup.

• Last but not least: You are enthusiastic about our product and want to join us on our exciting journey!

Why Join Us?

• Global Teamwork: We collaborate across departmental and country borders. You’ll be part of a truly international community where every voice is heard.

• Come as you are: This applies to the dress code and everything else. We believe you give your best when you feel truly comfortable being yourself.

• Competitive Package: We offer a competitive salary and a range of comprehensive benefits tailored to your specific location, which we’ll share during the recruiting process.

• Collaboration & Community: We’re big on "we." You’ll join a team that values connection and celebrates wins together, no matter the time zone.

• Continuous Learning: Benefit from internal/external training and an individual learning budget to keep your skills as sharp as a Tonie’s ears.

• Tonie Discounts: Enjoy attractive discounts on our entire range of products. You’ll quickly become the favorite guest at every birthday party!

• Rest & Recharge: Great work requires a clear head. You’ll enjoy generous paid time off to ensure you have plenty of time for your own stories.

As part of our principles, we are committed to supporting inclusion and diversity at tonies. We actively celebrate our colleagues’ different abilities, ethnicities, faiths and genders. Everyone is welcome and supported in their development at all stages in their journey with us.

We look forward to hearing from you!