Firmware Development Engineer

VIAVI Solutions•Ottawa, ON

1d•$86,929 - $161,439

About The Position

VIAVI Solutions is seeking a Senior Firmware Developer to join the Fiber Optic Production Lab Test (FOPLT) engineering team. This role focuses on embedded firmware development for modular optical test and measurement cassettes used in the MAP platform. The ideal candidate has hands-on experience with ARM and DSP embedded systems, FPGA interfacing, microcontroller programming, and Linux kernel-level development. You will work across the full hardware-software stack — from microcontroller and DSP firmware to ARM Linux applications, FPGA register interfaces, and PCIe bridge logic — delivering production-quality firmware for instruments used by telecom operators worldwide. As a Senior Firmware Developer at VIAVI Solutions, you will design, develop, debug, and maintain embedded firmware for the MAP modular optical test platform and its cassette ecosystem. The MAP platform is a rack-mounted chassis hosting hot-swappable optical test modules (cassettes) covering a broad range of fiber optic test and measurement applications. You will work across multiple cassette architectures as well as chassis-level infrastructure including FPGA bridges, microcontrollers, and Linux kernel/driver integration.

Requirements

BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field
7+ years of embedded firmware development experience
Strong proficiency in C and C++ for embedded systems (bare-metal and Linux)
Hands-on experience with ARM and/or DSP processor architectures
Experience with FPGA interfacing (register-level, SPI/I2C/memory-mapped I/O); HDL (Verilog or VHDL) reading ability preferred
Solid understanding of serial communication protocols: I2C, SPI, UART, USB
Experience with embedded Linux (kernel configuration, device trees, cross-compilation, driver development)
Proficiency with debugging tools: JTAG, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, serial consoles
Familiarity with version control (Git) and CI/CD build systems

Nice To Haves

Experience with DSP platforms and real-time signal processing (FFT, filtering, spectral analysis)
Experience with Xilinx Zynq or similar ARM+FPGA SoC development
Experience with AVR or similar 8-bit microcontrollers
Knowledge of SCPI protocol and test & measurement instrument firmware
Experience with fiber optic components and optical test instrumentation
Experience with PCIe protocol and bridge design
Knowledge of RTOS concepts (FreeRTOS, uClinux, or similar)
Experience with Docker-based embedded build environments and Buildroot/Yocto
Familiarity with Debian packaging and systemd service architecture
Experience with AI-augmented development tools and workflows

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain firmware for ARM-based cassettes (embedded Linux, C/C++) and DSP-based cassettes (uClinux, C/C++)
Implement SCPI command protocol handlers for instrument control and measurement data acquisition
Develop multi-threaded real-time signal processing pipelines using FFT, DSP, and SIMD optimizations
Interface with optical hardware components via I2C, SPI, UART, and USB
Interface cassette firmware with FPGA co-processors for signal processing, optical triggering, and hardware acceleration via memory-mapped registers
Maintain and enhance the MAP platform PCIe bridge FPGA (Verilog) which provides bus translation between the host processor and cassette backplane
Debug FPGA register-level interactions and timing issues across SPI and PCIe domains
Develop firmware for bridge board microcontrollers (C) that manage FPGA programming, card-present detection, I2C register interfaces, and chassis power sequencing
Maintain power management microcontroller firmware controlling chassis power rails, standby/power-cycle sequencing, and watchdog functionality
Contribute to Linux kernel and device tree customization on the chassis controller
Debug and resolve hardware-software integration issues including I2C bus contention, display pipeline conflicts, IRQ handling, and power management
Develop and maintain system services, udev rules, and shell scripts for chassis lifecycle management (boot, hot-plug, reboot, shutdown)
Work closely with hardware engineers on board bring-up, schematic review, and signal integrity debugging
Collaborate with the software team on communication between cassette firmware and the web GUI / front panel applications
Support manufacturing with calibration firmware, production test scripts, and factory provisioning tools
Leverage AI-augmented development workflows (e.g., AI coding assistants) to accelerate firmware development, debugging, analysis and unit-testing