Harman

About the Role

The principal Firmware Engineer role is a key position responsible for architecture, integration, and optimizing firmware solutions for a range of audio products, including BT speaker, Wifi speaker, headphone, soundbar, and multiple channels wireless sound systems. This role is crucial for driving technical excellence and innovation, ensuring high-performance, low-latency, and reliable firmware that enhances product functionality and user experience.

The position involves close collaboration with hardware, acoustic, DSP and platform team to integrate firmware with hardware systems, drive project timelines, and ensure seamless product development from concept to production.

Your Team

What You Will Do

• Conduct requirement analysis, technical evaluation, and firmware architecture design for new projects.
• Lead firmware development, ensuring code quality and system performance.
• Solve key technical challenges in projects and provide innovative solutions.
• Collaborate with hardware teams to complete software-hardware integration and debugging.
• Develop coding standards and guide team members in their development tasks.
• Track industry trends and promote the team's technical capabilities.

What You Need

• Bachelor's degree or above in Electronic Engineering, Computer Science, Automation, Communication Engineering, or related fields.
• Over 8 years of experience in embedded systems or firmware development, with experience leading or participating in complex projects.
• Ability to design efficient, scalable firmware architectures to ensure system stability, low latency, and high performance.
• Proven experience in solving complex technical issues in audio devices (e.g., wireless interference, audio latency, multi-device synchronization).
• Experience leading teams in embedded projects and mentoring junior engineers.
• Proficient in C/C++ programming, with strong coding habits and architecture design skills.
• Knowledge of common microcontroller architectures and development tools (e.g., ARM Cortex series, DSP).
• Experience in firmware development for audio devices (e.g., Bluetooth speakers, WiFi speakers, wireless earphones, soundbars).
• Familiarity with Bluetooth protocol stacks (e.g., Bluetooth Classic, BLE) and WiFi protocol stacks (e.g., 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), as well as audio codec technologies (e.g., AAC, SBC, aptX, LDAC).
• Understanding of audio signal processing, wireless audio transmission protocols, and synchronization and latency control in multi-channel audio systems.
• Extensive experience in low-power design and optimization, especially for portable devices (e.g., BT speaker, wireless earphones, smartwatches).
• Familiarity with common communication protocols (e.g., I2C, SPI, UART, USB, CAN, Ethernet).
• Excellent communication skills to collaborate with clients, product managers, hardware teams, and other stakeholders.
• Strong project management skills to develop schedules and ensure timely project delivery.
• Proficient in English, with the ability to read and write technical documents fluently.

What is Nice to Have

• Contributions to open-source projects or technical blogs demonstrating technical depth and influence.
• Published patents or papers in relevant fields.
• Experience in applying machine learning or deep learning in embedded systems.
• Familiarity with audio industry standards (e.g., Bluetooth SIG certification, WiFi Alliance certification).
• Experience in DSP development and familiarity with audio processing algorithms (e.g., FFT, FIR filters, sound field expansion).

What Makes You Eligible

• Willingness to work in an office and be willing to travel up to 10%, domestic and international travel
• Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of a background investigation and drug screen.
• Excellent time management skills
• Capability in English

What We Offer

• Flexible work environment, allowing for one day per week work from home.
• Access to employee discounts on world-class Harman and Samsung products (JBL, HARMAN Kardon, AKG, etc.)
• Extensive training opportunities through our own HARMAN University
• Competitive wellness benefits
• Tuition Reimbursement
• An inclusive and diverse work environment that fosters and encourages professional and personal development