Description
Designation: Lead Firmware Engineer
Experience required- 12-15 years.
Must Have skills for this vacancy:
12+ years as a Firmware Engineer, currently Technical Manager / System Architect / Technical Lead, managing 4–6 engineers — but still hands-on (writes code, does design/code reviews).
Strong embedded C, real-time firmware (RTOS or bare-metal).
Embedded hardware exposure: MCU/SoC design, analogue/digital circuits (70% FW / 30% HW split is fine).
PCB layout review + EMC/EMI debugging experience.
Hands-on lab skills: scope, logic analyser, JTAG/SWD.
Bootloader and firmware update experience.
Industrial communication protocol — EtherCAT, CAN, PROFINET, or IO-Link.
Domain: servo drives, VFDs, motion control, or power electronics (mandatory).
Customer-facing experience with EU/US stakeholders.
Working model : Hybrid ( 4days wfo and 1 day wfh)
About the Hiring/Payroll Company –
Lenze is a leading drive specialist for machine and plant engineering. For more than 75 years, the company has been a pacemaker and strong partner at its customers' side. With the help of the triad of electromechanics, electronics and software, Lenze accompanies its customers and helps them to optimize production and logistics processes, cut costs and reduce their energy consumption.
The Lenze Group, based in Aerzen, Germany employs more than 3,600 people worldwide and is represented in 45 countries. Group-wide, the company generated a turnover of 828 million euros in the 2023/2024 financial year.
About the position:
Role Purpose
We are looking for a handson Lead Firmware Engineer who will lead and grow our Embedded Hardware and Embedded Firmware teams and take endtoend responsibility for the technical direction, architecture, execution quality, and delivery of embedded electronics used in industrial drives, servo inverters, frequency inverters, and motion/safety products.
This role is not a pure people manager. The successful candidate will actively contribute to architecture, design & code reviews, design & code if needed, technical problem solving, and critical debugging, while also mentoring engineers, aligning teams, and ensuring disciplined engineering practices.
Products: Servo drives, VFDs, motion controllers, safety drives
Key Interfaces: Controls, Mechanical, System Architecture, Manufacturing, Quality, Cybersecurity, Functional Safety
Key Responsibilities
- Technical Leadership & Architecture Ownership
Own the overall embedded electronics architecture spanning:
MCU/SoC hardware design
Firmware architecture (boot, RTOS, drivers, middleware, communication)
HW–FW partitioning and interfaces
Define technology roadmaps for:
Microcontrollers / SoCs
Power management and embedded hardware platforms
Firmware frameworks, RTOS, and toolchains
Drive design decisions balancing performance, cost, reliability, cybersecurity, and manufacturability.
Act as the technical escalation point for complex crossdomain issues (HW–FW–System).
- HandsOn Engineering Contribution
Actively participate in:
Hardware architecture reviews, schematic reviews, and PCB layout reviews (SI/PI/EMC).
Firmware architecture discussions, code reviews, and critical module design.
Support hardware bringup and early prototype debugging, including:
Powerup, clocks, resets, interfaces
Joint HW–FW debug using oscilloscope, logic analyzer, JTAG/SWD
Guide teams in rootcause analysis of field, EMC, reliability, or performance issues.
Be technically deep enough to challenge assumptions, not just coordinate tasks.
- Embedded Hardware Leadership
Guide the team on:
Embedded schematic design (MCU/SoC interfaces, analog frontends, protection, monitoring)
Power supply architecture (DC/DC, LDOs, sequencing, supervision)
Component selection, derating, reliability and lifecycle management
Ensure robust EMC/EMIaware design practices and support troubleshooting.
Drive collaboration with PCB layout, manufacturing (EMS), and test teams.
Oversee hardware verification strategies, including electrical, functional, and environmental testing.
- Embedded Firmware Leadership
Lead firmware development for:
Lowlevel drivers and peripherals
Realtime firmware (RTOS / baremetal)
Bootloaders and firmware update mechanisms
Communication stacks (EtherCAT, CAN, PROFINET, IOLink, etc.)
Guide implementation of:
Secure boot, cryptography, key management
Secure firmware update and rollback strategies
Ensure compliance with secure development practices and cybersecurity requirements (e.g., IEC 62443).
Promote structured software engineering: modularity, testability, and maintainability.
- CrossFunctional System Ownership
Work closely with:
Controls engineers (PWM, ADC timing, realtime constraints)
System architects (partitioning, performance budgets)
Functional safety and cybersecurity stakeholders
Ensure HW–FW–System alignment on requirements, interfaces, and verification.
Support certifications, audits, and customer escalations when required.
- Team Leadership & People Development
Lead, mentor, and technically coach hardware and firmware engineers.
Build a highperformance engineering culture:
Design reviews
Knowledge sharing
Engineering discipline and quality mindset
Support hiring, onboarding, and capability development of the team.
Balance delivery pressure with longterm technical excellence.
- Process, Quality & Execution Excellence
Establish and enforce:
Structured development processes
Configuration and change management
Documentation and traceability
Drive best practices in:
Design reviews
Verification planning
CI concepts for firmware and hardware verification
Ensure readiness for industrialization and series production.
Required Qualifications & Experience
Education
Bachelor’s or master’s degree in:
Electrical Engineering
Electronics
Computer Engineering
Mechatronics
or a closely related field.
Experience
12+ years of experience in embedded systems development.
Strong background in both embedded firmware and hardware ideally. Optionally, a candidate with 70% strength in embedded firmware & about 30% strength in embedded hardware is also ok.
Someone who has being into Technical Manager role for less than 1.5 years or has been recently promoted to this role and is hands-on. (himself writes C code, does good system & hardware design, does code & design reviews)
Someone who is System Architect or a Technical lead, is hands-on, technically managing a team of 4 to 6 engineers, collaborating with other teams, regularly interacting with European or US customers, stakeholders for requirements, design & delivery etc.
Experience with industrial electronics, preferably:
Servo drives
Frequency inverters
Motion or power electronics products.
Mandatory Technical Skills
Embedded Hardware
Deep understanding of:
MCU/SoC hardware design
Analog and digital circuits
Power management and sequencing
Experience with:
PCB design flows and layout reviews
EMC/EMI fundamentals and debugging
Handson lab experience (scope, logic analyzer, power analysis).
Embedded Firmware
Strong embedded C expertise.
Realtime firmware development (RTOS or baremetal).
Debugging using JTAG/SWD, trace tools.
Bootloader and firmware update concepts.
Experience with industrial communication interfaces.
System & Integration
Ability to reason across HW, FW, timing, power, and system constraints.
Strong debugging and root cause analysis skills.
Desirable / Value-Add Skills
Experience with:
EtherCAT, CAN, PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, IOLink
Motor control or drive systems
Cybersecurity knowledge (Secure Boot, cryptography, IEC 62443).
Functional safety exposure (SIL2 / SIL3 environments).
Automated testing, scripting, or CI concepts.
Behavioural & Leadership Expectations
Strong technical credibility — respected by engineers.
Structured, analytical problem-solving approach.
Ability to lead through influence, not hierarchy alone.
Clear communicator across technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
Proactive, ownership-driven, and quality-oriented mindset.
Comfortable working in agile and evolving environments.