Zippy is India's first screen-free smart audio companion for kids. Every Zippy card, featuring iconic characters, comes alive with rich stories, songs, and magical audio interactions when placed inside the device and activated with a simple button press. We blend physical storytelling with AI magic to spark imagination, values, and joy.
We are looking for a Head of Firmware (Hands-On / Player-Coach) to own and build Zippy's firmware from the ground up. This is a founding leadership role where you will spend a significant portion of your time writing, debugging, and shipping embedded firmware, while also setting technical direction and building a small, high-quality team.
You will be directly responsible for the reliability, performance, and scalability of firmware running on our devices from prototype boards to millions of devices in the field.
This role is ideal for someone who wants technical ownership, enjoys deep embedded work, and is excited to lead by example
Key Responsibilities
1) Firmware development
- Write, review, and maintain production-grade embedded firmware (embedded C/C++).
- Implement and debug core device functionality: boot flow, power management, audio pipelines, LEDs, buttons, connectivity, and peripherals.
- Actively debug system-level issues using serial logs, hardware tools, and real devices.
- Optimize firmware for reliability, performance, and low-power usage.
- Own firmware builds, flashing, release processes, and OTA updates.
2) Firmware Architecture and future roadmap
- Design and evolve firmware architecture to support current and future Zippy devices.
- Make pragmatic architecture decisions balancing speed, stability, and scale.
- Define coding standards, firmware versioning, and release discipline.
- Ensure clean interfaces between firmware, hardware, cloud, and AI systems.
3) Quality and Reliability
- Own firmware stability across development, pilot runs, and mass production.
- Lead EVT/DVT/PVT firmware readiness and factory bring-up.
- Debug manufacturing and field issues hands-on alongside vendors and internal teams.
- Establish firmware test strategies, regression checks, and production validation flows.
4) Team leadership
- Build and mentor a small firmware team over time.
- Conduct code reviews and technical mentoring.
- Set engineering expectations while remaining deeply involved in execution.
- Help define hiring criteria and onboarding for future firmware engineers.
5) Cross functional collaboration
- Work closely with hardware, product, AI, cloud, and QA teams.
- Translate product requirements into firmware execution plans.
- Act as the firmware owner in leadership and external partner discussions.
Require skills and experience
- 610+ years of experience in embedded firmware development, with a strong hands-on track record.
- Deep expertise in embedded C/C++ and microcontroller-based systems (ESP32 or similar).
- Strong understanding of hardwarefirmware interaction (power, audio, peripherals).
- Experience shipping firmware into real consumer devices at scale.
- Proven ability to debug complex issues across firmware, hardware, and manufacturing.
- Experience mentoring or leading engineers while staying hands-on.
- Comfort working in fast-moving, ambiguous startup environments.
Preferred qualification
- Experience in early-stage startups or zero-to-one hardware products.
- Background in audio devices, low-power systems, or IoT products.
- Experience with OTA updates and device management.
- Exposure to factory firmware bring-up and production testing.
- Willingness to occasionally travel for manufacturing support.
Why Join Zippy
- Lead and build firmware hands-on for India's first AI-native kids tech brand
- Significant equity with leadership compensation
- High ownership and direct impact on shipped products
- Work at the intersection of embedded systems, AI, and storytelling
- Shape engineering culture from day one
- Build technology that positively impacts how kids grow and learn
