Job Overview
Leading Edge National Staffing is seeking an experienced Senior Firmware Engineer for an opportunity with one of our clients in Mississauga.
This position is ideal for a highly capable, hands-on embedded engineer with deep experience in bare-metal firmware development and a strong track record of owning firmware throughout the full product lifecycle.
The Senior Firmware Engineer will be responsible for firmware architecture, design, implementation, validation, release, maintenance, and field support for microcontroller-based products. The successful candidate should be comfortable working independently, making technical decisions, troubleshooting complex hardware/software interactions, and delivering stable, production-ready firmware.
This is not strictly a coding position. The successful candidate must own firmware outcomes: requirements clarification, architecture decisions, implementation, validation, release readiness, field issue resolution, and ongoing product improvement.
Key Responsibilities
Firmware Ownership
- Own firmware architecture, design, implementation, verification, release, and maintenance for assigned products or product platforms.
- Take responsibility for firmware feature development, bug fixes, reliability improvements, and future roadmap enhancements.
- Translate product and system requirements into clear firmware designs, modules, interfaces, and testable deliverables.
- Drive technical decisions related to code structure, timing behavior, peripheral usage, communication interfaces, diagnostics, and firmware upgrade strategy.
- Maintain firmware quality, readability, performance, and long-term serviceability across product generations.
Embedded Software Development
- Develop embedded firmware primarily in C / Embedded C, with C++ used where appropriate.
- Design and implement low-level drivers, hardware abstraction layers, control logic, state machines, bootloaders, communication handlers, diagnostics, and fault handling.
- Apply strong software development practices including modular design, version control, code reviews, documentation, defect tracking, and structured release discipline.
- Optimize firmware for memory usage, execution time, reliability, startup behavior, and deterministic real-time response on resource-constrained microcontrollers.
Hardware Integration & Debugging
- Support hardware bring-up, prototype validation, design verification, production launch, and field issue investigations.
- Debug firmware and hardware interaction issues using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, multimeters, signal generators, and JTAG/SWD debuggers.
- Analyze timing issues, peripheral behavior, communication failures, sensor/actuator interface problems, interrupts, resets, watchdog events, and intermittent system faults.
- Collaborate closely with electrical, software, manufacturing, quality, product, and service teams to resolve technical issues quickly and systematically.
Verification, Release & Product Support
- Create and execute firmware test strategies, validation plans, bench-level test procedures, and regression checks.
- Support firmware release documentation, version control, build artifacts, release notes, and traceability from requirements to validation results.
- Participate in root-cause analysis, corrective actions, design reviews, field issue reviews, and manufacturing test improvement activities.
- Mentor junior and intermediate engineers on firmware design, debugging, coding practices, and product ownership behavior.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent technical discipline.
- Minimum 8 years of professional embedded firmware development experience.
- Strong hands-on experience with bare-metal microcontroller firmware development.
- Proven experience taking product firmware or major firmware features from concept through production release and long-term maintenance.
- Demonstrated ability to debug complex firmware, hardware, timing, communication, and system-level issues.
- Strong understanding of embedded software design principles, structured coding practices, interface design, testing discipline, and documentation.
Technical Skills Required
Candidates should have strong experience with several of the following:
- C / Embedded C
- ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers
- STM32, NXP, Microchip, TI, Renesas, Nordic nRF, ESP32, or similar platforms
- UART, SPI, I2C, CAN / CANopen, RS-485, Modbus RTU, USB, or Ethernet
- Interrupt-driven firmware and state-machine design
- Bootloaders and firmware update mechanisms
- Watchdog, diagnostics, and fault-recovery systems
- Git and common embedded development environments
- Oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and JTAG/SWD debugging tools
- CMake, Makefiles, Python scripting, CI/CD, or automated testing tools
The Ideal Candidate for this role will have a strong ownership mindset, excellent troubleshooting skills, and the ability to independently drive firmware work while collaborating effectively with cross-functional teams. If you are an experienced firmware engineer who enjoys solving complex hardware/software problems and delivering reliable, production-ready embedded systems, we encourage you to apply.
Pay: $90,000.00-$120,000.00 per year
Application question(s):
- Have you taken firmware or a major firmware feature from initial design through production release and long-term support?
- Do you have hands-on experience developing bare-metal firmware for microcontrollers?
- Do you have experience working with RTOS platforms such as FreeRTOS, ThreadX, or Zephyr?
- Do you have hands-on experience debugging embedded hardware/firmware issues using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, JTAG/SWD debuggers, or similar equipment?
- Are you able to work in-person in Mississauga, Ontario?
Education:
- Bachelor's Degree (preferred)
Experience:
- Firmware Engineering: 7 years (required)
Work Location: In person
