Senior Firmware Developer, SAS

Location: Mount Pearl, Canada; Dartmouth, Canada

Department: Software, Firmware

Kraken Robotics is currently recruiting for a Senior Firmware Developer, SAS to join our team in Mount Pearl, NL, or Dartmouth, Nova Scotia offices.

Join our dynamic and innovative team building embedded systems deployed in harsh environments. In this position, you will play a key role in advancing the embedded firmware for our Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) product line, driving reliability, configurability, and testability across production builds and field deployments. You’ll work closely with hardware, FPGA, software, QA, and production teams to deliver high-quality firmware releases and scalable development practices.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Lead design reviews and make architecture decisions that balance performance, reliability, maintainability, and production usability.
• Drive improvements in firmware testability and QA integration, including architecture patterns that support software-in-the-loop (SIL) testing and CI-aligned workflows.

• Mentor junior/intermediate engineers through code reviews, pairing, design guidance, and best practices.
• Design and implement robust communication protocols (CAN, RS-485, Ethernet, UART, SPI, I2C, etc.) for subsea environments. 

• Ensure firmware reliability under extreme underwater conditions including pressure, temperature, and EMI. 

• Collaborate cross-functionally on system-level integration efforts that touch firmware, software, and FPGA boundaries—helping estimate and scope changes and ensuring clean interface ownership.
• Create technical documentation including firmware design specifications, test procedures, and user manuals. 

• Occasionally participate in field deployments and sea trials, providing on-site technical support and troubleshooting. 

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field. 

• 7+ years of experience in embedded firmware development using primarily C++ (bare-metal and RTOS). 

• Demonstrated technical leadership as an individual contributor, including leading firmware architecture or design efforts, driving technical direction on complex problems, and coordinating technical work across firmware, hardware, FPGA, software, or QA teams.
• Experience with real-time systems and low-level hardware interaction. 

• Experience with version control software: Git, Gitlab 

• Experience with Python for testing, scripting, and automating embedded system validation.  

• Familiarity with Agile/Scrum practices and DevOps tools (e.g., GitLab CI, Docker). 

• Familiarity with modern firmware development practices, including software-in-the-loop (SIL) testing and hardware abstraction techniques using mocks/stubs to simulate hardware behavior in software. 

• Excellent time management skills with a focus on meeting deadlines in a high-paced environment. 

• Highly motivated team player with excellent communication skills, initiative, superior problem-solving skills, the ability to prioritize tasks, and willingness to learn and adapt. 

Preferred Skills

• Proficiency with Arm Cortex-M microcontrollers. 

• Knowledge of embedded hardware design. 
• Demonstrated experience with developing embedded firmware that can run in a software-in-the-loop (SIL) environment.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing hardware‑in‑the‑loop (HIL) environments, including direct hardware interaction and integration into CI pipelines.

NOTE 

May require occasional offshore or field work aboard research vessels or deployment sites. 

About the Company

NEW CAREER OPPORTUNITY

Build your career with Kraken Robotics. Make a difference to others. If innovation drives you, and you want a career that makes a difference to the world, helping humanity overcome the challenges in our oceans – safely, efficiently, and sustainably – then come join us at Kraken Robotics.