Lead Embedded Software Engineer

ForwardEdge ASIC LLC offers an onsite Lead Embedded Software Engineer role in Saint Paul, MN, with a competitive salary range of USD 150,000 to 180,000 per year. A Bachelor's degree is required. This position combines technical leadership with hands-on coding, software architecture, mentoring, and project planning to guide embedded software from design through delivery.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, integration, and testing of embedded software for products and systems.
• Provide technical direction for embedded software architecture, design decisions, coding standards, and implementation approach.
• Actively contribute to software development, including writing, reviewing, debugging, and maintaining code.
• Partner with product, hardware, systems, QA, and project management teams to define scope, priorities, schedules, and technical milestones.
• Break down project goals into executable software tasks, estimates, risks, and delivery plans.
• Mentor embedded software engineers through design reviews, code reviews, debugging support, and technical guidance.
• Drive best practices for firmware development, version control, documentation, testing, CI/CD, and release readiness.
• Support board bring-up, hardware/software integration, driver development, RTOS or bare-metal development, and system-level troubleshooting.
• Identify technical risks early and propose practical mitigation plans.
• Ensure software deliverables meet performance, reliability, safety, security, and maintainability requirements.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Strong experience developing embedded software in C and/or C++.
• Experience leading technical work for embedded software projects or small engineering teams.
• Experience writing Linux PCIe and NVMe device drivers.
• Strong understanding of microcontrollers, microprocessors, peripherals, buses, interrupts, memory constraints, and real-time behavior.
• Experience with RTOS, bare-metal development, device drivers, bootloaders, communication protocols, or hardware abstraction layers.
• Ability to debug embedded systems using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, JTAG/SWD debuggers, and similar tools.
• Experience with software planning, estimation, task breakdown, and cross-functional project coordination.
• Strong code review, design review, and technical documentation skills.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain technical tradeoffs clearly.
• US Citizenship

Technologies

• C
• C++
• Linux
• PCIe
• NVMe
• RTOS
• Bare-metal development
• Bootloaders
• JTAG/SWD debuggers
• Oscilloscopes
• Logic analyzers
• CI/CD pipelines

Benefits

• Work-Life Balance: Flexible 9/80 work schedule with every other Friday off
• Healthcare and medical coverage options
• 401(k) retirement benefits with company contribution
• Generous holidays and PTO
• Eligibility for short-term and long-term incentive programs

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with safety-critical, medical, automotive, aerospace, industrial, IoT, or regulated embedded systems.
• Familiarity with cybersecurity, secure boot, firmware updates, or encrypted communications.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, unit testing, hardware-in-the-loop testing, or automated embedded test frameworks.
• Knowledge of Agile, Scrum, or hybrid project planning methods.