Senior Full-Stack Hardware & Firmware Developer

About Wattr.ai

Wattr.ai is a CleanTech innovator on a mission to reimagine global access to water and energy. We develop breakthrough AI-driven systems that address infrastructure inefficiencies at a systemic level, ensuring reliable and sustainable resources for generations to come. Recognized by global institutions like The World Bank and UNICEF, Wattr.ai bridges the gap between high-end digital intelligence and real-world, on-ground impact. Join us as we build the future of climate-resilient infrastructure.

About the Role

We are looking for an exceptional Senior Full-Stack Hardware & Firmware Developer who will own the entire product development lifecycle from napkin sketch to production-ready hardware shipped at scale.

You will bridge the gap between hardware design, embedded firmware, and software integration wearing multiple hats while maintaining deep technical excellence in each domain.

This is a high-ownership, high-impact role for someone who thrives on complexity and loves shipping real products.

What You'll Own

PCB schematic & layout design

Embedded firmware (bare-metal & RTOS)

IoT architecture & sensor integration

Hardware-software integration layer

Bring-up, validation & DVT

DFM reviews & production ramp

Post-production debugging & support

Key Responsibilities

Hardware Design & Engineering

Own the full PCB development flow: schematic capture, component selection, layout, DRC/ERC review, and Gerber release.

Design mixed-signal, power electronics, RF, or high-speed digital systems from concept to manufacturable BOM.

Conduct signal integrity, thermal, and EMC analysis; drive layouts to meet IPC-2221 standards.

Collaborate with mechanical engineers on enclosure tolerancing, connector placement, and thermal management.

Lead DFM/DFA reviews with CMs and oversee NPI, EVT, DVT, and PVT builds.

Embedded Firmware Development

Develop production-grade firmware in C/C++ targeting ARM Cortex-M/A, RISC-V, or proprietary SoCs.

Implement device drivers, HALs, and middleware for peripherals: SPI, I2C, UART, USB, CAN, Ethernet, BLE/Wi-Fi.

Architect and maintain RTOS-based systems (FreeRTOS, Zephyr, ThreadX) with deterministic real-time constraints.

Apply secure boot, OTA firmware update mechanisms, and cryptographic primitives (TLS, AES, ECC).

Write hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test suites and automate firmware CI pipelines.

Full-Stack Software Integration

Design and implement host-side software bridges: Linux kernel drivers, userspace daemons, REST/gRPC APIs.

Build data pipelines from sensor firmware through edge processing to cloud telemetry (AWS IoT / Azure IoT Hub / GCP).

Develop companion mobile or desktop applications when the product requires an end-user interface.

Own communication protocol stacks and ensure data integrity from silicon to cloud.

IoT Architecture & Sensor Integration

Design and integrate multi-parameter sensor systems: flow meters, pressure transducers, energy monitors, temperature/humidity, water quality (pH, TDS, conductivity) and environmental sensors.

Architect end-to-end IoT solutions from sensor node hardware and low-power firmware through edge gateways to cloud dashboards and alerting pipelines.

Implement low-power IoT profiles: duty-cycling, deep-sleep wake strategies, and energy-harvesting topologies to maximise battery or self-powered node life.

Select and qualify IoT connectivity stacks for the application: NB-IoT, LTE-M, LoRaWAN, Zigbee, Thread/Matter, Wi-Fi, or BLE mesh.

Develop sensor calibration routines, compensation algorithms, and data-quality assurance pipelines to guarantee measurement accuracy in field conditions.

Integrate time-series data with IoT platforms (AWS IoT Core, Azure IoT Hub, Google Cloud IoT) and build real-time analytics dashboards for water and energy metrics.

Define and implement device provisioning, fleet management, and remote OTA update workflows for large-scale IoT deployments.

Prototype Production Lifecycle

Drive all phase gates from proof-of-concept bench prototypes to pilot runs and mass production ramp.

Maintain engineering change orders (ECOs), version-controlled hardware and firmware repositories.

Define reliability, regulatory, and compliance requirements (CE, FCC, UL, RoHS); work with test labs through certification.

Create and maintain detailed technical documentation: hardware design specs, FW architecture docs, test plans, and user guides.

Cross-Functional Leadership

Mentor junior engineers; conduct thorough code and design reviews with constructive feedback.

Communicate technical trade-offs clearly to product managers, executives, and non-technical stakeholders.

Partner with supply chain to qualify alternative components and manage obsolescence risk.

Own project timelines, risk registers, and milestone commitments for hardware development programs.REQUIRED QUALIFICATI

Education & Experience

Master's/bachelor's degree (or higher) in Electronics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related discipline.

6+ years of hands-on hardware and firmware development experience with shipped production-volume products.

Demonstrable end-to-end ownership: from initial schematic to factory floor and post-launch support.

Hardware Skills

Expert proficiency in at least one EDA toolchain: Altium Designer, KiCad, or Cadence OrCAD/Allegro.

Hands-on experience with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, network analyzers, and JTAG/SWD debug tools.

Deep knowledge of power supply design: LDOs, buck/boost converters, battery management ICs.

Experience with high-speed design (DDR, PCIe, USB 3.x, Gigabit Ethernet).

Firmware & Software Skills

Expert-level C and strong C++ for embedded targets; Python for scripting and tooling.

Mastery of at least one RTOS and bare-metal programming paradigms.

Proficiency with Git, CI/CD tools (GitHub Actions, Jenkins), and unit/integration test frameworks for embedded.

Experience with Linux bring-up, device tree configuration, and kernel module development is a strong plus.

IoT & Sensors

Proven experience designing or integrating sensor systems for energy metering, water quality/flow, or environmental monitoring.

Hands-on with IoT connectivity protocols: MQTT, CoAP, LwM2M, AMQP and at least one LPWAN standard (LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, or LTE-M).

Familiarity with sensor signal conditioning: ADC selection, filtering, noise rejection, and calibration methodologies.

Experience with IoT device management platforms and FOTA update frameworks at fleet scale.

TECHNICAL COMPETENCY MATRI

MCUs / SoCs

ARM Cortex-M0M7/A, ESP32, STM32, nRF52, i.MX RT, RISC-V cores

EDA & PCB

Altium Designer, KiCad, Cadence Allegro; HDI, flex, rigid-flex

IoT Connectivity

BLE 5.x, Wi-Fi 6, LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, LTE-M, Zigbee, Thread/Matter

Sensor Systems

Flow, pressure, energy (CT/Shunt), pH, TDS, conductivity, temp/humidity

IoT Protocols

MQTT, CoAP, LwM2M, AMQP, Modbus, OPC-UA, gRPC

IoT Platforms

AWS IoT Core, Azure IoT Hub, Google Cloud IoT, ThingsBoard

Communication

SPI, I2C, UART, USB 2/3, CAN/CAN-FD, Ethernet, RS-485, 1-Wire

RTOS

FreeRTOS, Zephyr, ThreadX / Azure RTOS, bare-metal FSM

Cloud & Edge

Edge compute, time-series DBs (InfluxDB, TimescaleDB), Grafana

Languages

C (expert), C++ (proficient), Python, Rust (bonus)

Version Control

Git, Git LFS for hardware assets, semantic versioning

Test & Validation

HIL test rigs, cppcheck, static analysis, automated test benches

Compliance

FCC Part 15/22, CE RED, IEC 62368, UL 60950, RoHS/REACH

Preferred

Experience with functional safety standards (IEC 61508, ISO 26262, IEC 62061).

Familiarity with Rust for embedded systems or safety-critical firmware.

Background in medical devices (ISO 13485, IEC 60601) or automotive (AUTOSAR, ASPICE).

Experience with FPGA development (Verilog/VHDL, Xilinx/Intel toolchains).

Contributions to open-source hardware or embedded firmware projects.

Publications, patents, or conference presentations in hardware/embedded domains.

What we offer

Competitive salary & performance-based equity / ESOPs

State-of-the-art tools & EDA licenses

Annual learning & conference budget

Patent filing support & bonuses

Mentorship from industry veterans

End-to-end product ownership

Collaborative, low-bureaucracy culture

Relocation assistance (if applicable)