Director of Embedded Systems Engineering

About Inspiren 

Inspiren offers the most complete and connected ecosystem in senior living. Founded by Michael Wang, a former Green Beret turned cardiothoracic nurse, Inspiren proves that compassionate care and technology can coexist - bringing peace of mind to residents, families, and staff.

Our integrated solutions seamlessly fit into existing workflows, capturing everything happening within a community. Backed by nurse specialists and powerful analytics, we provide the data operators need to make informed clinical and operational decisions - driving efficiency, profitability, and better care outcomes.

About the Role

We are seeking a visionary Director of Embedded Systems Engineering to serve as the strategic architect of our firmware organization. In this leadership role, you will hold full authority over the technical roadmap, team scaling, and operational processes for all Inspiren embedded systems. You will not simply manage existing headcount; you will strategically build a high-performance department capable of delivering complex, connected solutions across R&D, NPI, and sustaining engineering. You will be the primary driver of integrating AI-augmented engineering workflows to accelerate development cycles and set the global standard for how we collaborate with our JDM partners.

What You'll Do

• Strategic Team Building: Own the organizational design and long-term hiring strategy for the embedded systems team. You will proactively identify talent gaps and build a culture of accountability, technical excellence, and collaboration.
• Process Architecture: Define the methodologies for modular, testable, and hardware-flexible platforms. You will establish the comprehensive technical playbooks, coding standards, and architectural expectations that govern how work is performed.
• AI-First Engineering Evangelism: Act as the lead expert and educator on the integration of AI tools within the firmware lifecycle. You will identify and implement AI-driven automation for code generation, unit testing, and predictive maintenance to multiply the team's output.
• JDM & Vendor Orchestration: Lead the technical relationship with our JDM partners. You will define the specifications and interface points that allow external teams to act as a high-velocity extension of our internal core.
• Technical Roadmap Oversight: Provide strategic direction across Inspiren's core technology pillars:
  • Multi-Modal Perception & Sensing: Oversee the firmware strategy for Radar (mmWave), Optical Perception, and High-Fidelity Audio, ensuring low-latency processing and high-integrity data fusion.
  • Communication & Protocol Architecture: Architect a robust roadmap for multi-protocol utilization (WiFi, BLE, LoRa, Thread). You will lead the design and optimization of these channels to ensure mission-critical reliability and uptime.
  • Silicon & Platform Strategy: Manage the long-term roadmap for SoC selection and the "porting pedigree" required to move smoothly between silicon vendors (NVIDIA, MediaTek, Qualcomm, etc.).
• Operational Excellence: Serve as the final word on fleet-wide OTA delivery, secure boot processes, and HIPAA-compliant data handling across the entire embedded ecosystem.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Serve as the technical bridge between firmware, hardware, and clinical teams, ensuring a unified systems-level approach to safety and reliability.

What You Bring

• Educational Background: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience: 12+ years in embedded systems engineering with 5+ years in a senior leadership role. You have a proven track record of building and scaling engineering departments for high-volume, mission-critical IoT ecosystems or sophisticated consumer electronics where reliability, connectivity, and hardware-software integration are paramount.
• Technical Skills:
  • Strategic Systems Architecture: Expert knowledge of the full embedded landscape (MCU-based RTOS to MPU-based Embedded Linux) and expertise in defining high-level architectures for complex, low-power IoT ecosystems involving multi-modal sensing.
  • AI-Augmented Development: Practical experience implementing AI-driven CI/CD pipelines and LLM-assisted tools to accelerate the firmware lifecycle while maintaining code quality.
  • Global Resource Management: Demonstrated success managing JDM/ODM partnerships in Asia through clear technical documentation and rigorous quality accountability.
  • Protocol Mastery: High-level expertise in designing and optimizing wireless communication channels and networking stacks for ultra-reliable IoT performance.
  • Perception Hardware Oversight: Comprehensive understanding of firmware requirements for mmWave radar, optical sensors, and VoIP/WebRTC audio stacks.
  • Security & Compliance: Mastery of the firmware development lifecycle (SDLC) including secure boot, encrypted telemetry, and HIPAA-compliant data handling.
• Leadership Traits: Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to influence executive leadership and pivot strategies to meet 1-year and 2-year business goals. Start-up experience is a plus.

Details

• The annual salary for this role is $240,000-$280,000 + equity + benefits (including medical, dental, and vision) 
• Flexible PTO
• Location: Remote, US or Canada. NYC preferred. 
• Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, or disability status.

Compensation & Benefits

At Inspiren, we are committed to fair, transparent, and equitable compensation. We know that every candidate brings a unique combination of experience, skills, and perspectives, and we take these factors into account when determining pay. While compensation may vary depending on your background, role, and location, we are proud to offer a competitive base salary and total benefits package, alongside eligibility for equity awards in the form of stock options.

We believe great work deserves great rewards. Our compensation and benefits are designed to recognize your contributions and reflect the standards of leading organizations in our field.

Your recruiter will be happy to walk you through the full compensation package, including what your total pay could look like, so you have a clear picture of both the immediate and long-term value of joining our team.