Innovation Team , Company | Embedded Division
C O N F I D E N T I A L
Issued: April 2026
Full-stack embedded fluency across MCU firmware, FPGA integration, and the software-hardware interface , combined with the ability to CORE communicate clearly across all three disciplines. The ability to stand at DIFFERENTIATOR the boundary between a hardware schematic, an FPGA bitstream, and a software API and make them function as a unified system.
This is the embedded authority role for the organisation. The incumbent defines the embedded strategy across all current and future Qore products, covering MCU selection, peripheral architecture, FPGA integration, real-time operating system decisions, and the interface contract between embedded and software layers. This role does not execute someone else's embedded vision. It defines it. Software engineers, hardware engineers, and firmware developers will all rely on this individual as their first point of reference for any question that crosses the embedded boundary. Every embedded architecture decision , interface selection, power domain design, timing requirements , carries this role's ownership. The scope includes the drone platform today and the automotive and industrial products on the product roadmap. The person in this role is building the embedded foundation on which those future products depend.
- Embedded architecture authority: owning the technical architecture for all embedded subsystems, including MCU selection, peripheral allocation, RTOS versus bare-metal decisions, and power domain design.
- CAN and UART architecture oversight: setting interface standards, reviewing all CAN and UART implementations across product lines, and ensuring consistency with automotive migration requirements.
- FPGA integration: defining the interface contract between FPGA fabric and the application processor; overseeing HDL development and system bring-up in collaboration with the hardware team.
- Software-embedded interface ownership: defining and enforcing clean API boundaries between the firmware layer and the software stack, ensuring the software team is never blocked by ambiguous or undocumented embedded behaviour.
- Hardware collaboration: participating in schematic and PCB layout reviews with a firmware and signal-integrity perspective; identifying hardware issues before they become firmware workarounds.
- Cross-layer failure investigation: owning root cause analysis when a failure does not present clearly within a single layer , firmware, hardware, or software.
- Team technical development: serving as the primary technical resource and architecture reviewer for all embedded engineers in the organisation.
- Automotive and industrial readiness: maintaining a clear roadmap for how current embedded architecture evolves toward ISO 26262, CAN FD, AUTOSAR, and applicable functional safety standards.
Qore | Job Description | Page 1
Innovation Team , Company | Embedded Division
C O N F I D E N T I A L
- Demonstrated depth across at least two of the three embedded layers , MCU firmware, FPGA integration, and hardware-software interface design , with working knowledge of the third.
- Prior experience bringing up complex embedded systems on real hardware, including first-pass board bring-up and multi-layer debugging.
- Evidence of architectural decisions that were proportionate, well-documented, and implementable by the wider team.
- Ability to communicate technical decisions clearly to software engineers, hardware engineers, and non-technical stakeholders simultaneously.
- Track record of mentoring or technically leading other embedded engineers.
- Verifiable examples of shipped embedded products running in real operational environments.
- Deep specialization in a single embedded layer with no ability to reason across adjacent layers.
- Career conducted entirely in simulation or emulation environments, with no real hardware bring-up experience.
- Architecture documentation that is not usable , too abstract for implementation or not reviewed by the teams expected to implement it.
- Salary expectations based solely on years of experience without a corresponding portfolio of demonstrable shipped output.
- Inability to name a specific pre-production edge case personally identified and resolved before field deployment.
This role grows into the Head of Embedded Engineering function as the team scales. As Qore moves into automotive and industrial markets, the embedded layer becomes the most safety-critical component of the product stack. The incumbent will determine how the organisation meets those standards , not only technically, but structurally: hiring and organising the embedded team, setting the verification and validation philosophy, and representing Qore's embedded capability to partners, clients, and regulators. This is a senior leadership path with direct influence over the company's product architecture for the next five to ten years.
- Full audit of the existing embedded architecture across all active products. Produce a single reference document mapping: MCU and FPGA choices, interface protocols in use (CAN, UART, SPI, I2C), RTOS or bare-metal approach per product, and known gaps or risks.
- Review the FPGA-to-software interface specification. If one does not exist, draft the structure and identify the decisions that need to be made. Flag any ambiguities that could result in integration failures.
- Attend a firmware code review and submit written technical feedback as though accountable
for the codebase.
- Individual sessions with the software team and hardware team. Capture their primary current
frustrations with the embedded layer. Produce a written synthesis of findings.
- Present a week-one architecture briefing to the team: current state of the embedded stack,
the top three proposed changes with rationale, and the recommended priority order for
implementation.
