Principal Firmware Engineer

CHEP•Santa Clara, CA

17h•Hybrid

About The Position

CHEP helps move more goods to more people, in more places than any other organization on earth via our 347 million pallets, crates and containers. We employ approximately 13,000 people and operate in 60 countries. Through our pioneering and sustainable share-and-reuse business model, the world’s biggest brands trust us to help them transport their goods more efficiently, safely and with less environmental impact. You’ll join an international organization big enough to take you anywhere, and small enough to get you there sooner. You’ll help change how goods get to market and contribute to global sustainability. You’ll be empowered to bring your authentic self to work and be surrounded by diverse and driven professionals. And you can maximize your work-life balance and flexibility through our Hybrid Work Model. Our Digital group is enabling the future by using data and insights to power smarter, more sustainable supply chains. A key part of this strategy is the development of the tracking device platforms that will enable these data and insights to be collected – and the Firmware team is at the heart of this transformation. In this role, you will demonstrate good development practices and seamless collaboration across multiple teams in Digital and beyond. Engineering for device systems spans deep collaboration across engineering disciplines (Hardware design, Test, Architects, Technical Project Management, and Cloud software teams). Our engineers drive concepts into prototypes and prototypes to products. The Principal Firmware Engineer provides thought leadership in execution for corporate projects but also is a strong voice of the customer. We expect this individual to represent Customer configuration, firmware modifications, feature development and work closely with Customer Success leadership to ensure we have a customer first approach and our solutions delight our customers. This will include setting up custom configuration database, define modification levers, if needed, create a software UI/UX for customers working closely with customer-facing teams. This could also include some customer visits, representing the company at customer sites and translating business requirements into features for internal development to deliver. The role also has the responsibility for building and strengthening the firmware engineering team and its capabilities.

Requirements

Experience with embedded software design and programming in C/C++ for development, debugging, testing and performance analysis
8-12 years of experience in embedded software development
Experience working with embedded/IOT firmware platforms with FreeRTOS or Zephyr or similar OS.
Experience building software for embedded/IOT systems or custom SoCs
Experience leading complex features or projects across multiple teams
B.S. or M.S degree in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering or equivalent experience
8/12 years of related experience in embedded systems.
Knowledge of communication protocols: I2C, SPI, USART, I2S, PCM.
Experience with sensors, accelerometers, gyro, GPS, humidity, temperature

Nice To Haves

Experience with lab instrumentation for power, performance tuning, SDKs, analyzers for debugging IOT systems
Experience delivering electronics devices in Consumer, IOT, Embedded markets
Demonstrated expertise in one or several of the following areas - communication protocols (TCP/IP, Bluetooth, Wifi), computer vision, sensors, cellular
Experience with Wi-Fi, BLE, and Cellular IoT solutions is a plus.

Responsibilities

Translate system requirements into design specifications and develop firmware applications for low-power, small-system environments.
Design, develop, document, and test I/O communication protocols and device drivers for embedded systems.
Manage and maintain source code repositories, ensuring version control and efficient development practices.
Develop tracking and sensor telemetry applications for real-time LPWAN or Cellular IoT networks.
Optimize firmware solutions to enhance network performance, signal quality, and power efficiency.
Implement and lead improvements in software development methodologies, including unit test strategies.
Participate in technical design reviews to improve code quality, system architecture, and deployment processes.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure successful integration and post-deployment support.
Define and own the technical features for firmware, optimizing for performance, power, and security.
Write and debug complex embedded C/C++ code for microcontrollers, microprocessors, and SoCs.
Collaborate with hardware teams to bring up new hardware, interpret schematics, and ensure smooth hardware/firmware interaction.
Establish best practices for code quality, documentation, and automated testing.
Resolve complex, system-level issues that span across firmware, hardware, and software interfaces.
Develop, coordinate and implement improvements in software development methodology and leading practices including requirements definition, specification development, and unit test strategies.
Be a strong voice of customer for customer features, configuration changes and debugs working with Customer support teams.
Analyze, design, develop, and debug firmware for a wide variety of tracking devices, including GPS, Cellular, Wi-Fi/Ble.
Be a go-to person for complex development, performance and evaluation issues that require in-depth knowledge of product-focused firmware development.
Align long-term vision with short term priorities.