Senior Firmware Engineer

Location: Belfast-County Antrim-United Kingdom

Time Type: Full time

Job Description

What you will do

As a Senior Firmware Engineer, you will aid in the design, development, and maintenance of embedded firmware across a range of CEM Systems hardware platforms. You will work closely with hardware, software, and systems teams to deliver reliable, secure, and high-performance solutions used globally in critical infrastructure, airports, data centres, and enterprise environments. This is a hands-on technical position involving firmware design, secure solution development, problem-solving, and full product lifecycle support.

How you will do it

Embedded Firmware Development

• Design,  implement and support firmware for embedded systems using RTOS-based environments.

• Develop/maintain/debug multi threaded firmware applications using signals, semaphores, mailboxes, and other RTOS primitives to manage constrained resources.

• Create clear, robust finite state machine logic for deterministic device behaviour.

• Implement internal communication protocols including SPI, I²C, and other MCU subsystems.

• Design for Security – develop firmware with latest cyber security practices at the core

Networking & Security Protocols

• Develop and maintain embedded networking features using the ISO model, including TCP/IP, routing, subnets, client/server operation.

• Integrate secure communication technologies including TLS (MBED, WolfSSL) and modern cipher suites such as AES, CHACHA20 along with SHA.

• Work with access-control-specific communication standards, including OSDP for control panels and peripheral devices.

Smart Card & RFID Technologies

• Implement and support smart-card reader technologies across ISO 14443A/B, ISO 15693, and related RFID standards.

• Work with DESFire architecture, including AES and 3DES encryption modes, application identifiers (AIDs), and file structures.

• Support legacy and proprietary card formats including MIFARE Classic, HID iClass, and customer-specific technologies.

Electronics & Hardware Interaction

• Read, interpret, and collaborate using circuit diagrams and system schematics.

• Understand power supply behaviour, electrical limitations, and protection considerations.

• Work with RS485 asynchronous communications, Ethernet hardware, NFC antenna systems, relays, and FET-based output drivers.

Problem Solving & Technical Leadership

• Conduct root-cause analysis across multi-component systems—both hardware and firmware.

• Develop solutions that minimise collateral impact and maintain system stability.

• Mentor junior engineers, perform code reviews, and contribute to engineering best practice.

What we look for

Essential

• Ability to work in the office three days per week

• Authorization to work in the UK

• Proven experience designing firmware for embedded systems (ideally real-time / resource-constrained environments).

• Strong proficiency in C, familiarity with C++ and JAVA is desirable.

• Experience with a range od IDEs including Keil uVision, QT Creator, Android Studio and source control systems including Github and TFS

• Experience with embedded Linux and Android operating systems desirable along with

• Solid understanding of hardware fundamentals and microcontroller architectures.

• Demonstrable experience with networking stacks and secure communication protocols.

• Experience with smart-card or RFID technologies is a significant advantage.

• Excellent analytical and debugging abilities, including use of oscilloscopes, logic analysers, and protocol tools.

• Ability to work autonomously and collaboratively across multidisciplinary teams.

• Familiarity with Mitsubishi PLCs desirable.

Desirable Experience

• Experience in access control, security systems, or other safety-critical embedded environments.

• Previous leadership/mentoring responsibilities.

• Familiarity with compliance, certification, or regulated environments.

What we offer

• Work on innovative, industry-leading security products used worldwide.

• Join an experienced engineering team with strong technical depth.

• Opportunities for technical leadership, architecture influence, and career progression.

• Competitive salary, benefits, and flexible working options.

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