Senior/Lead Firmware Engineer

Company Description

We are a global materials science and digital identification solutions company with locations in over 50 countries, and approximately 35,000 employees worldwide. As a science and innovation company, we believe that diverse teams are stronger teams. We are committed to fostering a culture of curiosity and courage, where you can grow your career with a company that has innovation in its DNA. Founded on creating real-world impact to enable a better future, we strive to provide an open, collaborative culture where diversity of thought is encouraged and respected. Hear from our employees about what it's like working at Avery Dennison. Learn more at www.averydennison.com.

At Avery Dennison, some of the great benefits we provide are:

• 401(k) Retirement Savings: You receive an automatic contribution of 3% of eligible pay (even if you contribute $0) plus a matching contribution of 50% on the first 7% of eligible pay you contribute.

• Basic Life Insurance: Basic Life Insurance (Company paid): Provides twice your base annual salary up to a $50,000 maximum at no cost to you.

• Paid Vacation Accrual: You start with 10 vacation days in your first year on the job. The longer you work for the Company, the more days you will accrue.

• Inclusive Care Support: Primary and specialty care from a provider with LGBTQ+ experience.

Job Description

Are you a hands-on architectural mastermind who thrives at the intersection of bits, bytes, and moving parts? We are seeking a Senior/Lead Firmware Engineer to architect, prototype, and scale the next generation of our market-leading printing solutions.

In this role, you won't just be maintaining legacy code—you will be architecting new platforms from scratch for a diverse portfolio of devices, including high-performance tabletop systems, specialized care-label fabric printers, and ultra-mobile handheld devices. You will collaborate deeply with cross-functional teams of electrical, mechanical, and software engineers to turn complex electro-mechanical requirements into seamless, high-performance products that are reliable in the factory and resilient in the field.

What You’ll Do (Responsibilities)

• Design and implement robust, real-time embedded software architectures from the ground up while establishing development best practices across the team.

• Develop low-level drivers and control algorithms for critical printing peripherals, including stepper/DC motors, thermal print heads, and print engines.

• Collaborate with hardware and manufacturing teams early in the design cycle to ensure firmware supports efficient factory testing, calibration, and high-yield production.

• Drive fast-paced prototyping initiatives to validate new product concepts, features, and hardware components while providing strong technical leadership to elevate team capabilities.

• Design and implement robust telemetry, logging, and remote monitoring frameworks to proactively track device health and diagnose complex system-level bugs in the field.

• Drive the technical direction, delegate and assign tasks, and elevate the technical capabilities of the entire firmware team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field required. Master's degree preferred.

• 10+ years of experience in embedded systems development with expert-level proficiency in the C language.

• Proven experience architecting systems utilizing Real-Time Operating Systems (e.g., FreeRTOS).

• Deep understanding of communication protocols (BLE, Wi-Fi, USB, UART, SPI, I2C) and experience driving physical peripherals (motors, thermal components, sensors).

• Strong hands-on hardware debugging skills with comfortable reading of schematics and using standard lab equipment (scopes, logic analyzers, JTAG debuggers).

• Proven track record of designing firmware with full lifecycle and manufacturability in mind, taking products from a blank text editor to a commercialized, mass-produced reality.

Nice to Have 

• FPGA design and development experience using Verilog or VHDL is highly desired.

• Previous experience developing printers is highly desired.

• Previous experience developing for RFID encoders or readers.

• Experience with INTEGRITY OS.

Why You’ll Love Working Here

• True Innovation: We are the market leaders in our space. You’ll be working on cutting-edge, highly visible products that impact global supply chains and retail environments.