Firmware Engineering Manager

Firmware Engineering Manager (permanent position) – Morrisville, NC

Our client is seeking a Firmware Engineering Manager who will lead the firmware engineering team while remaining a hands-on contributor. A large part of your time will be spent doing billable engineering work: designing, debugging, and delivering embedded and wireless systems for clients across a variety of customer markets. You will own day-to-day technical execution, guide engineers through complex challenges, and mentor and grow the firmware engineering team.

This is a permanent position working on site in Morrisville, NC, with a starting salary range of $145,000 – there is upward mobility for more experience. The role offers a competitive base salary and great benefits. Candidates must reside in the Raleigh-Durham metro area to fulfill the schedule needs of the role, but non-local candidates willing to relocate may be considered. No visa sponsorship or subcontracting arrangements are available.

Technical & Project Execution (Primary)

· Perform detailed firmware design and development work on client projects as a billable contributor.

· Estimate project tasks and timeline to inform statements of work.

· Interface with prospective and existing clients to understand and manage technical expectations.

· Ensure firmware solutions are well-architected, practical, and aligned with project objectives.

· Lead and enforce design reviews and contributions from the engineering team to ensure technical quality, maintain standards, and ensure adherence to customer/product requirements.

· Provide critical technical oversight and guide engineers through technical challenges.

· Drive root cause analysis and document lessons learned to improve future execution.

· Assist and lead on recovery plans when problems arise in projects and tasks (budget, schedule, etc.).

Team Leadership

· Manage a team of 5–10 firmware engineers, including workload oversight, daily technical direction, and personnel administration.

· Hold regular one-on-ones; provide direct, constructive feedback on performance and professional development.

· Identify and develop technical leads within the team; empower them to support daily project operations.

· Mentor engineers on processes, design standards, and engineering best practices.

· Inspire and motivate the team by aligning business and individual goals.

· Foster a collaborative, communicative team culture; recognize and celebrate contributions from all team members regardless of seniority or background.

· Exemplify and reinforce the company values.

Strategy & Operations

· Establish and maintain quality standards.

· Drive continuous improvement through process definition and disciplined execution.

· Collaborate with the Director of Engineering to allocate resources and staff projects effectively, ensuring optimal utilization and setting future work up for success.

· Identify and manage third-party vendor relationships.

· Provide DevOps support for team tooling, CI/CD infrastructure, and developer productivity as needed.

· Establish and manage non-project firmware budget (tools, training, etc.).

· Review and support the hiring process.

· Collaborate with cross-functional peers to establish best practices and business-wide efficiencies.

· Lead cross-discipline brainstorming sessions.

· Maintain a smooth and well-defined onboarding experience for new staff.

Required Qualifications

· 10+ years of firmware industry experience, preferably in embedded design and/or wireless products.

· 1+ years in a management or equivalent leadership position.

· Mastery of C and/or C++.

· Strong understanding of firmware and embedded system architecture and design.

· Demonstrated track record of delivering firmware projects end-to-end.

· Proficiency with embedded debugging tools: multimeters, oscilloscopes, and logic analyzers.

· Ability to read schematics and understand the impacts of logic gates, transistors, voltage dividers, level shifters, and other common components.

· Ability to read hardware datasheets, user manuals, and implement firmware drivers.

· Comfortable working across multiple concurrent projects in a fast-paced consultancy environment.

· Strong communication skills necessary to interact with project managers and clients.

· Must reside in or be willing to relocate to the Raleigh-Durham metro area (hybrid schedule). No visa sponsorship or fully remote arrangements available.

· Ability to travel up to 5% annually (limited and project-dependent).

Preferred Qualifications

· Experience managing firmware teams in a consulting or services environment.

· Hands-on experience with Zephyr RTOS, Yocto/embedded Linux, or comparable platforms.

· Familiarity with low-power firmware design for battery-powered IoT devices (sleep modes, power gating, current profiling).

· Familiarity with DevOps tooling, CI/CD pipelines, and engineering productivity tooling.

· Experience applying cybersecurity practices to embedded/IoT devices (secure boot, signed updates, SBOM, vulnerability response).

· Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools such as Claude Code.

· Exposure to regulated-industry development (e.g., medical IEC 62304, industrial standards).

Core Competencies

· Deep technical credibility, comfortable diving into details, not just reviewing summaries.

· Able to remain hands-on while running a team, and to serve as the senior technical voice in customer and internal reviews.

· Strong leadership and people-development skills.

· Excellent written and verbal communication.

· Calm under pressure; effective at conflict resolution.

· Process-oriented mindset with a bias toward continuous improvement.

· Passion for customer satisfaction, technical excellence, and team success.

· Ability to effectively manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.

· Demonstrates perseverance, making progress despite obstacles and setbacks.

· Demonstrates creativity in problem-solving and brainstorming environments.

· Thinks like an entrepreneur by considering business-wide impacts of decisions.

· Organized and analytical thinker; proactively identifies and mitigates risks.

· Passionate about results (not just checking boxes), and about customer satisfaction and technical quality.

· Can make progress with minimal guidance in uncertain situations with conflicting priorities.

· Recognizes the need for change and leads it effectively.

· Persuasive communicator who can leverage team strengths and encourage effective collaboration.

· Works independently with minimal technical guidance on execution.

Education

· Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field. Master’s degree preferred