Principal Embedded Software Engineer

Job Title

Principal Embedded Software Engineer

Role Summary

Lead architecture, development, and integration of embedded platforms spanning MCU firmware, RTOS, embedded Linux, platform-management protocols, and hardware-backed security. Combine system-level technical ownership with hands-on development, debugging, and validation to deliver secure, resilient, and recoverable platforms.

Experience Level

Senior - requires substantial experience; the posting specifies 10+ years of embedded software experience.

Responsibilities

Primary technical and leadership duties for platform software delivery.

• Own software architecture and technical direction for embedded platforms; translate hardware and requirements into architecture, interfaces, implementation plans, and validation strategies.
• Design firmware, drivers, subsystems (e.g., security), middleware, and applications ensuring hardware–software integration, initialization, concurrency, resource constraints, fault handling, and recovery.
• Remain hands-on: implement and review complex drivers and middleware, support platform bring-up, and lead cross-layer root-cause analysis across hardware, firmware, protocols, and OS components.
• Identify technical risks early; use prototypes to evaluate uncertain designs and drive trade-off decisions.
• Establish engineering quality standards, perform architecture and code reviews, mentor engineers, and coordinate delivery with cross-functional teams and stakeholders.

Requirements

Core technical skills and experience required. Degree details are listed under Education Requirements.

• Strong hands-on proficiency in C and low-level embedded software development, including processor architecture, interrupts, DMA, synchronization, memory protection, and hardware–software interactions.
• Substantial expertise in one or more: Zephyr OS, RTOS-based MCU development, or embedded Linux platform development; experience integrating firmware, drivers, middleware, and host-side software.
• Implementation or architectural experience in firmware development, secure boot, platform security, or specification-driven software development.
• Proven ability to lead complex debugging efforts, perform architecture and code reviews, and resolve technical trade-offs while remaining implementation-focused.
• Strong technical documentation, planning, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills; ability to drive ambiguous technical challenges through implementation and validation.
• Nice-to-have: Rust experience; FPGA-based firmware development; upstream open-source contributions; prior development for NXP MCUs/MPUs; experience with hardware-backed security, trusted firmware, secure firmware updates, or recovery systems.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's or Master’s degree in a relevant engineering discipline (for example, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field) as stated in the posting.

About the Company

Company: NXP Semiconductors

Headquarters: Nijmegen, Netherlands

NXP Semiconductors N.V. is a global semiconductor company that provides High Performance Mixed Signal and Standard Product solutions. With over 45,000 employees and operations in more than 35 countries, NXP is a leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications, catering to automotive, industrial IoT, mobile, and communication infrastructure markets. The company is committed to innovation and sustainability, advancing a smarter, safer, and more sustainable world through technology.