Senior Firmware Engineer
About The Position
Tin Can is seeking a Senior Firmware Engineer to be responsible for the software that runs on their devices. These devices are crucial for family connections, handling everything from Wi-Fi connectivity to placing emergency calls. The firmware engineer will be the primary point of contact for device-side engineering, focusing on firmware improvements, secure fleet-wide updates, and enhancing the user experience. This role involves setting firmware direction, coordinating firmware and hardware efforts, and collaborating with voice, IoT, and app engineers on next-generation devices. It's a hands-on position for someone detail-oriented who wants end-to-end ownership of the device software.
Requirements
- 5+ years of experience building and shipping firmware for connected devices, preferably in C/C++ on resource-constrained microcontrollers (ESP32/Espressif is a plus).
- Proven experience shipping firmware to real devices in the field and managing over-the-air updates (staged rollouts, versioning, failure recovery) at scale.
- Proficiency in debugging across software and hardware boundaries, including reading schematics, using oscilloscopes/logic analyzers, and understanding audio (I2S), Wi-Fi/BLE, power, and reset behavior.
- A reliability-focused mindset, emphasizing reproducible, testable, and reversible solutions, with a strong ability to instrument systems for field monitoring.
- Clear communication skills, with a focus on documenting systems for team understanding.
- A collaborative, low-ego approach to teamwork.
Nice To Haves
- Real-time audio or VoIP experience (SIP/RTP, codecs, AEC, jitter buffer, PLC).
- Experience with an IoT fleet platform like Thingsboard.
- In-depth knowledge of Wi-Fi provisioning (BLE/BluFi) and mesh networking.
- Experience taking a consumer hardware product from prototype through manufacturing.
- Electrical engineering skills, including schematic capture, PCB bring-up, or audio hardware design, enabling work across firmware and electrical engineering.
Responsibilities
- Own device firmware end to end (C/C++ on ESP32), including connectivity, provisioning, call behavior, and on-device audio.
- Ensure safe and reliable over-the-air updates with phased, reversible rollouts, sensible versioning, monitoring, and recovery mechanisms.
- Improve call quality by optimizing the on-device audio path (echo cancellation, jitter buffer, packet-loss concealment, codecs).
- Troubleshoot and resolve field issues such as devices dropping off Wi-Fi, mesh/dual-band quirks, and dropped calls.
- Instrument the device fleet to monitor key aspects of the user experience, including device reachability, call connection success, audio quality, and call drops.
- Set firmware direction and coordinate firmware and hardware work to ensure team ownership of device-side knowledge.
- Collaborate with hardware teams by reviewing specs and supporting board bring-up to ensure firmware and hardware decisions are aligned for current and future devices.
Benefits
- Opportunity to build tech that protects childhood.
- Full ownership of device software with founding team backing.
- Autonomy and responsibility to shape device behavior.
- Work in a small, high-trust, mission-driven team.
- Space to challenge assumptions and build systems reflecting company values.
- Opportunity to scale a technical foundation to support thousands of families.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
