The Principal Connected Firmware Engineer is the senior individual technical contributor in SharkNinja's Connected Firmware organization — the deepest hands-on expert in wireless connectivity, display/UI, and device-to-app-to-cloud integration. This role sets technical direction on the hardest connected-architecture problems in the portfolio and holds the technical standard that internal developers and external partners build against.

The Principal Engineer designs the connected-platform interfaces and standards, then writes the reference implementations — connectivity stacks, provisioning and pairing code, display/UI frameworks, and app/cloud integration layers — that prove the architecture out in working code before any partner builds against it. That combination is what gives this role its leverage: not just interface contracts and design reviews, but hands-on implementation that sets the technical bar for the hardest connected-architecture problems in the portfolio. This is an architect-track role for an engineer who wants deep technical scope in connected systems without moving into people management.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Direction

• Define reference architectures and reference implementations for wireless connectivity, display/UI, and app/cloud integration reused across product categories.

• Own the design of the most technically demanding connected subsystems — Bluetooth/BLE and Wi-Fi stacks, Matter/Thread/Zigbee integration, display and embedded UI frameworks, and device provisioning and pairing protocols.

• Make and document the technical decisions that constrain downstream implementation: connectivity interface contracts, app/cloud API boundaries, and wireless platform selection criteria.

• Prototype and de-risk new connectivity, display, and app-integration technologies ahead of program commitment.

Design Review & Partner Governance

• Lead technical design reviews for internal and partner-developed connected firmware; approve or reject against defined criteria.

• Translate architectural intent into requirements that partners can execute without interpretation.

• Serve as the technical escalation point for partner design disputes and interoperability or integration failures.

• Assess partner technical capability in wireless and display subsystems and contribute to consolidation and qualification decisions.

Certification & Standards Engineering

• Provide the technical depth behind certification submissions — Bluetooth SIG, Wi-Fi Alliance, Matter — and own root-cause resolution when a submission fails.

• Track relevant wireless standards evolution and inform architecture decisions ahead of spec changes.

• Define the reproducibility standard in technical terms for connected subsystems — source, toolchain, and build manifest requirements sufficient for independent rebuild of shipping binaries.

Engineering Standards & Infrastructure

• Contribute to the test automation framework for connectivity and display subsystems: CI pipeline design, RF and interoperability test-harness infrastructure, static analysis configuration.

• Establish and evolve coding standards, review criteria, and quality thresholds applied across internal and supplier connected-firmware codebases.

Technical Leadership & Mentorship

• Provide technical direction to the connected-track Senior Embedded Firmware Developer; mentor senior and mid-level engineers across US and China teams working on connected features.

• Partner with Hardware Engineering, Systems, Cloud, Mobile App, and NPD to gate critical connected-product behavior at design time.

• Represent connected firmware technical positions in cross-functional and executive forums.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or related discipline required.

• Master’s degree preferred.

Experience

• 12+ years of embedded software and firmware engineering experience, with significant depth in wireless connectivity and connected-device architecture.

• Demonstrated track record as a principal, staff, or lead architect on complex connected embedded systems (BLE, Wi-Fi, Matter, Thread, Zigbee).

• Proven experience taking products through wireless certification (Bluetooth SIG, Wi-Fi Alliance, Matter).

• Proven experience defining architecture executed by external development partners and holding technical standards against outsourced work.

• Experience developing firmware for consumer electronics, home appliances, robotics, IoT devices, or related high-volume industries.

• Experience mentoring engineers and influencing technical direction without formal authority.

Technical Expertise

• Deep embedded C / C++ on resource-constrained platforms.

• Wireless connectivity technologies (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth/BLE, Matter, Thread, Zigbee) at protocol and stack level.

• Device provisioning, pairing, and companion app integration (BLE GATT, Wi-Fi onboarding, cloud device registration and authentication).

• Display technologies and embedded graphics/UI frameworks.

• Device security, secure boot, key management, and cybersecurity frameworks for connected products.

• OTA update architecture, rollback, and field recovery.

• Wireless certification processes and RF regulatory compliance.

• Build systems and toolchains (gcc, CMake, headless), static analysis, unit testing frameworks.

• Hardware-software integration, board bring-up, and low-level debug.

Leadership Competencies

• Technical Depth and Judgment

• Influence Without Authority

• Design Review Rigor

• Mentorship and Knowledge Transfer

• Clear Technical Communication