Job Summary
We are looking for an Embedded Firmware Developer to design, implement, validate, and maintain high-reliability firmware for dive computers and connected products. This is a senior individual contributor role for an engineer who combines strong hands-on embedded development with system-level thinking across MCU architecture, Bluetooth integration, memory and power management, display/peripheral drivers, and product reliability.
The ideal candidate can move effectively from requirements to architecture to implementation to validation, communicate clearly through technical documentation, and use approved AI-assisted engineering tools responsibly to improve productivity without compromising correctness, robustness, or maintainability.
Job Type: Monday to Friday (Hybrid)
Responsibilities
KRA 1. Firmware Architecture, Development, and System Design (40%)
- Design and implement embedded firmware in C/C++ for microcontroller-based products
- Own key aspects of firmware architecture, including modular decomposition, BSP/HAL structure, driver layering, task model, and interface boundaries
- Translate product and system requirements into robust, testable firmware designs with clear attention to timing, memory, power, reliability, and serviceability
- Develop and maintain firmware for peripherals, communication interfaces, display drivers, and low-power operation
- Contribute to system-level design decisions across MCU/chipset, memory architecture, BLE integration, peripheral selection, display strategy, and battery-life optimization
- Make sound engineering trade-offs between performance, maintainability, complexity, schedule, and risk
KRA 2. Verification, Debugging, and Reliability (25%)
- Design and execute firmware verification strategies, including unit, integration, hardware-in-the-loop, and regression testing
- Debug complex hardware/software interactions using debuggers, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, multimeters, logs, and telemetry
- Validate firmware correctness through code review, static analysis, datasheet checks, and hardware validation
- Analyze field and test failures to identify root causes and drive corrective action
- Resolve subtle embedded issues such as race conditions, memory corruption, timing defects, and power-state transition failures
KRA 3. Documentation and Technical Communication (15%)
- Produce clear technical documentation, including functional specifications, architecture descriptions, block diagrams, data flow diagrams, interface definitions, and design rationale
- Explain clearly the purpose and use of RTOS task models, BSP/HAL abstractions, driver architecture, memory ownership, and synchronization mechanisms
- Communicate technical concepts and design decisions effectively to both technical and cross-functional stakeholders
KRA 4. AI-Assisted Engineering, Tooling, and Productivity (10%)
- Use approved AI-assisted tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, or equivalent to improve productivity in code drafting, refactoring, documentation, test generation, and workflow acceleration
- Critically review and validate all AI-assisted output against requirements, hardware behavior, datasheets, and engineering standards
- Contribute to practical team workflows for safe and effective AI-assisted firmware development
- Build or improve tooling and automation that increase firmware team efficiency
KRA 5. Cross-Functional Contribution and Technical Leadership (10%)
- Act as a strong senior individual contributor within the firmware team
- Participate in design reviews, architecture discussions, and cross-functional technical problem-solving
- Mentor less experienced engineers in embedded fundamentals, debugging discipline, and documentation clarity
- Help raise team standards in engineering rigor, technical communication, and effective tool adoption
- Support legacy firmware and internal engineering tools where needed
Key Qualifications and Experience:
- 7+ years of embedded firmware development for commercial products
- Strong hands-on expertise in embedded C/C++
- Strong understanding of microcontroller-based system design
- Solid experience with RTOS-based embedded systems, including tasks, interrupts, synchronization, and scheduling
- Experience developing or integrating BSP, HAL, peripheral drivers, and communication interfaces
- Strong debugging skills across both software and hardware domains
- Experience working within embedded constraints involving memory, power, timing, and robustness
- Ability to produce clear engineering documentation and work effectively across firmware, hardware, QA, and product teams
Preferred Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience
- Experience with consumer electronics, battery-powered devices, or other resource-constrained embedded products
- Experience with BLE stack integration, profiles, drivers, and troubleshooting
- Experience with memory management, low-power optimization, LCD/OLED integration, bootloaders, and firmware update flows
- Experience creating tooling or automation in Python
- Familiarity with manufacturing test, production validation, CI/CD, and static analysis
- Exposure to RF-oriented firmware, DSP-adjacent logic, or test-jig programming an asset
The successful candidate is a calm under pressure problem solver, who builds effective team relationships through honest and well thought out communication to get the job done and brings:
- Excellent interpersonal, organizational, and verbal/written communication skills.
- Strong work ethic, self-directed, determined, customer/team-oriented, energetic, enthusiastic.
- Demonstrated tenacious follow-up ability, attention to detail, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to manage priorities and multi-task a variety of assignments with a positive attitude.
- You are interested in diving or think its pretty cool!
Salary Range:
Career Band 3: $90-130k/ year
Benefits:
These are some of the benefits Shearwater employees enjoy:
- Flex time and Hybrid work site arrangements for most professional staff.
- Company paid Life, AD&D, Dental, Extended Health, EAP Plan + Health Spending Account.
- Competitive vacation allowance.
- Group RSP with company matching contributions.
- 6 personal days per calendar year.
- Diving – open water ticket, dry suit and advanced training company paid.
- Bonuses based on successful annual financial performance of the company
- 10 minute tenant shuttle (or bus) from Skytrain and local Parking available
Ready to dive deeper? Apply here through Indeed.
