Embedded Software Developer

Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada; Hybrid

We are seeking a Senior Embedded Software Engineer to design and develop high-performance software for our network security products. You will work primarily in C on embedded Linux platforms, contributing to core networking, security, system services, and platform infrastructure.

The ideal candidate has strong systems-programming skills, a solid understanding of networking protocols, and experience developing reliable, performance-sensitive software for production environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, implement, test, and maintain embedded software for network security appliances.
• Develop high-quality, efficient, and maintainable software primarily in C.
• Work on networking features across the data plane, control plane, and system-management layers.
• Develop and enhance firewall, authentication, and encryption, access-control, and threat-protection capabilities.
• Investigate and resolve complex issues involving performance, concurrency, memory usage, networking, and system stability.
• Analyze packet flows and troubleshoot network-protocol behavior using tools such as Wireshark and tcpdump.
• Optimize software for throughput, latency, scalability, and resource-constrained environments.
• Participate in architecture discussions, technical design reviews, and code reviews.
• Develop unit, integration, and system-level tests to ensure product quality and reliability.
• Collaborate with hardware, QA, product-management, security-research, and customer-support teams.
• Contribute to secure-development practices throughout the software-development lifecycle.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• At least 3 years of professional software-development experience, including substantial experience with C.
• Strong knowledge of data structures, algorithms, pointers, memory management, and concurrency programming.
• Experience developing system-level or embedded software on Linux or another Unix-like operating system.
• Strong understanding of TCP/IP and common networking protocols, including Ethernet, ARP, IPv4/IPv6, TCP, UDP, ICMP, DNS, DHCP, TLS and HTTP.
• Experience with socket programming, inter-process communication, synchronization, and asynchronous event handling.
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills using tools such as GDB, Valgrind, AddressSanitizer, perf, Wireshark, and tcpdump.
• Experience using Git and working within a collaborative code-review and continuous-integration environment.
• Ability to independently own complex features from design through implementation, testing, and production support.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing firewalls, routers, VPN gateways, intrusion-prevention systems, secure-access products, or other network-security appliances.
• Knowledge of stateful firewalling, NAT, routing, policy enforcement, traffic inspection, and session management.
• Experience with IPsec, SSL/TLS, SSH, PKI, certificate management, or other security technologies.
• Familiarity with authentication protocols and directory services such as Kerberos, NTLM, LDAP, RADIUS, SAML, or OAuth.
• Understanding of secure coding, vulnerability mitigation, cryptographic concepts, and common network attacks.
• Experience with Python, Go, Bash, or another language used for automation, testing, or supporting services.
• Experience developing software for multicore and high-throughput systems.
• Familiarity with Agile development practices and CI/CD pipelines.

The Canada base salary range for this full-time position is expected to be between $114,000 - $139,000 annually. Wage ranges are based on various factors including the labour market, job type, and job level. Exact salary offers will be determined by factors such as the candidate’s subject knowledge, skill level, qualifications, and experience.

Fortinet strives to provide you and your family with a comprehensive benefits package. Benefits eligibility starts on your first day of hire and comprises of 100% company paid medical, dental, and vision coverage, including a Health Spending Account and a Personal Spending Account that gives you flexibility to spend where you need it the most. Our Employee & Family Assistance Plan (EFAP) offers you and your family access to various services like counseling, legal advice, mental health resources etc. We also provide critical illness, disability, and life insurance, as well as a Group Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) with a company match to help you save faster for retirement. We offer competitive Paid Time Off and flexible leave policies, including paid health days, to help you take care of yourself and your family members.

All roles are eligible to participate in the Fortinet equity program. Bonus eligibility is reviewed at time of hire and annually at the Company’s discretion.

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