Lead Device Software Engineer - Embedded & Firmware

This is a hands-on technical lead role as part of a team of 3 firmware engineers, reporting to the Director of Electrical Engineering. In this role, you will own the device software system end to end, defining the architecture, breaking it into well-scoped workstreams, and driving fast, iterative delivery. You will both write production code, and delegate tasks to the team.

You will be responsible for the IslandDER digital interface, built to comply with a new device-to-device communication standard we are co-developing with the leading battery and inverter companies for secure integration with home batteries (e.g., Tesla Powerwall) and Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) solutions. The software monitors voltage and current, drives relays, performs safety checks, and communicates securely with third-party devices and the ConnectDER cloud.

The device software breaks into four subsystems you'll own: Data Acquisition (grid/microgrid metering), Control (real-time, safety-critical), Communication (Ethernet, WireGuard, multi-core interfaces), and Integration (fault tolerance, firmware updates, security, logging).

In your first year, you might:

• Write the design diagrams and safety case for the IslandDER's safety-critical software, and sit across the table from the NRTL to defend it.
• Bring up firmware on a new board with the EE team, debugging across the hardware/software boundary with a logic analyzer.
• Stand up the code-signing pipeline so a production firmware build can be signed and shipped as a verified OTA update.
• Hand a teammate a well-scoped metering or comms workstream with a clean interface, then review their PRs.
• Tighten a line-frequency control loop that's missing its timing budget.

Responsibilities will include:

• Systems Architecture & Leadership: Own the overall device software architecture. Break complex requirements into well-scoped workstreams, delegate with clean interfaces, and guide the team while staying hands-on where it matters.
• Device Software Safety Architecture: Architect and implement the safety-critical software, scoping the safety boundary tightly and owning the FMEA, safety case, and NRTL certification.
• Metering: Design and implement revenue-grade metering systems, including data acquisition, signal processing, and calibration.
• Hardware-Software Co-Design: Partner with electrical engineering — co-defining requirements, driving board bring-up, debugging across the boundary, and influencing hardware design for testability and safety.
• Firmware Integrity & Updates: Own the secure firmware-update path, including secure boot, code signing, and the key-management system behind it.
• Build, Test & Scale: Keep a modern CI/CD pipeline and testable code and take systems from prototype to mass production.

Location, Workstyle & Travel: This role is based in our Philadelphia office, with an in-person schedule of Tuesday–Thursday (three days per week) and approximately 10% travel. Remote candidates will be considered but must be able to travel to the Philadelphia office for at least one week per month, with an overall travel expectation of approximately 25%.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science, with 7+ years in firmware engineering and a track record of shipping new products at scale.
• Rigorous system design and documentation: you bring an exacting commitment to clear, thorough technical documentation and design diagrams, and the discipline to drive a complex safety certification (e.g., IEC 61508 / IEC 60730 / UL 1998) to completion.
• Technical leadership: you've led the technical direction of a project. You architect the approach, partition it into workstreams for others, and still ship code yourself.
• Embedded mastery: expert in C, C++, and/or Rust, with deep experience debugging embedded systems via oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and JTAG/SWD.
• Deep bare-metal/RTOS firmware experience on modern 32-bit microcontrollers, including low-level architecture and multi-core memory optimization. (ARM Cortex-M or similar.)
• AI-assisted development with ownership: sophisticated use of AI coding agents paired with full ownership; you can explain every significant decision you ship.
• A bias for fast iteration and judgment to size effort to business value, with the communication skills to explain complex requirements to diverse stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science
• Prior experience taking safety-critical software through NRTL certification.
• Matter/Thread device commissioning (SPAKE2+/PASE, setup-code or QR pairing).
• Protocols & build: I2C, UART, SPI, CAN/CAN-FD, and Ethernet; build systems (Make, CMake); test automation and CI/CD.
• Embedded TCP/IP networking (e.g., lwIP); experience implementing WireGuard or similar secure tunnels on a real-time embedded platform
• Reverse-engineering CAN protocols or developing custom evaluation tools.
• Experience configuring and using an RTOS for multi-threaded, timing-critical applications across metrology, safety, and communications.
• Experience with PX5 or ThreadX.
• Experience designing or operating a code-signing / PKI system for firmware (key custody, signing pipeline, secure boot verification, key rotation and revocation).
• Familiarity with relevant standards, e.g., UL 1741/IEEE 1547, UL 3141, UL 2900 (cybersecurity), and ANSI C12.1 (metering).

US Salary Range 155000 - 209000 USD