Lead Embedded Firmware Engineer (ESP32)

Location: Remote within Canada; candidates must reside in Canada and have Canadian work authorization. The role may require travel within the US for client engagements.

Base compensation: $164,000 CAD annually, plus up to 10% annual performance bonus.

Company

hirify.global is a distributed technology firm that develops scalable connected-device solutions for commercial, industrial, and consumer products, taking products from pilot to production.

What you will do

• Own firmware architecture, technical direction, design decisions, planning, estimation, and delihirify.global standards.
• Design, develop, and maintain production firmware for ESP32-based connected devices using ESP-IDF.
• Bring up hardware and integrate drivers for sensors, actuators, LEDs, and other peripherals.
• Implement BLE provisioning, Wi-Fi connectivity, AWS IoT Core communication over MQTT/TLS, and reliable OTA updates with rollback and staged rollouts.
• Debug issues across firmware, hardware, wireless, and cloud layers using tools such as JTAG/SWD, logic analyzers, and protocol sniffers.
• Collaborate with clients, hardware engineers, contract manufacturers, mobile and backend teams on production readiness, telemetry, certification, and device-to-cloud interfaces.

Requirements

• 8+ years of professional embedded or firmware engineering experience in C/C++.
• 2+ years in a technical lead role, including firmware architecture, code reviews, and mentoring.
• Significant production experience with Espressif ESP32, ESP-IDF, RTOS-based development, OTA updates, and low-level drivers such as I2C, SPI, UART, ADC, and GPIO.
• Hands-on experience with BLE, Wi-Fi, device provisioning, wireless interoperability, and protocol-level debugging.
• Experience connecting devices to AWS IoT Core using MQTT over TLS, certificate-based authentication, and device state synchronization.
• Must reside in Canada, have Canadian work authorization, and be able to travel within the US as needed; visa sponsorship is not available.

Nice to have

• Experience leading connected products from concept through mass production and supporting EVT, DVT, PVT, or FCC certification.
• Experience with Nordic nRF platforms, nRF Connect SDK, Thread, Zigbee, Z-Wave, BLE Mesh, or Protocol Buffers.
• Experience with embedded security, CI/CD, automated test tooling, Python scripting, and OTA rollback strategies.
• Experience working with contract manufacturers on factory flashing, device provisioning, and production readiness.

Culture & Benefits

• Fully distributed environment with close client collaboration and opportunities for remote and in-person work.
• Group RRSP match with employer contributions of 4% of annual income.
• Extended healthcare, dental, and vision insurance.
• $150 USD per month cell and internet stipend and $600 USD per year home-office equipment stipend.
• Professional development stipend, loaned MacBook Pro, and annual team retreat.