Sr. Embedded Firmware Engineer/Manager

Sr. Embedded Firmware Engineer/Manager

Carson, CA (or NJ for the right candidate)

You'll build the firmware function from the ground up—and your work will end up in some of the most expensive homes in the world.

My client makes premium LED lighting systems for ultra-high-end residential and commercial properties. Celebrity estates, tech billionaire compounds, properties featured in Architectural Digest. This isn't commodity lighting you'd find at a big box store. Our customers pay for performance, and we engineer accordingly.

We're a 30-year-old company that still operates like a startup: small team, no bureaucracy, real ownership. Our firmware org today is one principal engineer working solo. We need someone to come in, take the reins, and build this function into what it needs to be—architecting systems, managing contractors and overseas resources, and eventually hiring and leading a team.

Why this role is different:

This is a true leadership opportunity, not a "senior individual contributor with a fancy title" situation. You'll own the firmware strategy and make decisions that stick. No layers of management second-guessing you, no months-long approval processes. If you've been at a big company where you spend more time in meetings than writing code, this is your exit ramp.

You'll work directly with our VP of Engineering and collaborate across electrical, mechanical, and product teams. We need someone who's technically deep enough to debug at the register level AND capable of explaining tradeoffs to non-engineers. We've interviewed plenty of candidates who have one of those skills. We need both.

What you'll do:

• Own embedded firmware architecture for networked IoT lighting systems (Zigbee, BLE Mesh, WiFi)
• Stay hands-on: architecting, coding, debugging—this isn't a meetings-only management role
• Build and scale the firmware team using internal hires, contractors, and overseas resources
• Create the infrastructure, processes, and tooling to support firmware development as our product portfolio grows
• Drive technical decisions confidently—we're looking for someone who can say "here's what we're doing and why" rather than waiting for consensus

What we're looking for:

• 5+ years of embedded firmware experience with real technical leadership
• Strong C/C++, ARM Cortex (STM32, NXP LPC series), and debugging chops—you should be comfortable with a logic analyzer and oscilloscope
• Experience with wireless protocols (Zigbee, Z-Wave, BLE Mesh, WiFi) and IoT connectivity (MQTT, TCP/IP)
• Background in consumer electronics, industrial automation, smart home, or automotive
• Excellent communication skills—you'll interface across the company, not just write code in a corner
• Entrepreneurial mindset: comfortable figuring things out without big budgets or established playbooks

Location:

Carson, CA or East Coast candidates in the NJ area.