Principal Firmware Engineer

Overview

Keysight is at the forefront of technology innovation, delivering breakthroughs and trusted insights in electronic design, simulation, prototyping, test, manufacturing, and optimization. Our ~15,000 employees create world-class solutions in communications, 5G, automotive, energy, quantum, aerospace, defense, and semiconductor markets for customers in over 100 countries. Learn more about what we do.

Our award-winning culture embraces a bold vision of where technology can take us and a passion for tackling challenging problems with industry-first solutions. We believe that when people feel a sense of belonging, they can be more creative, innovative, and thrive at all points in their careers.

As a Principal Firmware Engineer, you will define and drive the firmware architecture for photonic measurement and analysis systems across platforms. Working closely with R&D leadership and product stakeholders, you will shape the translation of customer and product requirements into coherent system-level architectures and high-quality firmware solutions that deliver industry-leading performance, reliability, and scalability.

In this role, you will lead the resolution of the most complex cross-domain challenges, influence architectural decisions across hardware–software boundaries, and establish technical standards and best practices. You will serve as a technical authority and mentor, continuously advancing firmware quality, compliance, performance, and long-term platform sustainability.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and evolve firmware architecture across platforms by leading the design and implementation of complex, system-critical firmware components from concept through product lifecycle support.
• Drive cross-functional technical alignment by partnering with hardware, software, systems, and product teams to translate requirements into cohesive system-level architectures and technically sound solutions.
• Establish and enforce firmware quality standards by defining best practices for design, testing, documentation, and maintainability, and by systematically reducing long-term technical debt.
• Lead resolution of the most complex and high-impact system issues, providing deep technical guidance in debugging, performance optimization, reliability, and overall system stability.
• Advance platform-level capabilities by continuously deepening expertise in embedded technologies and applying this knowledge to ensure architecture scalability, performance, and long-term sustainability.
• Act as a technical authority and mentor, leading code reviews and architectural discussions, coaching engineers, and sustaining high engineering standards across teams and platforms.

Essential:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 10+ years of experience in embedded and firmware development within a professional R&D environment.
• Recognized expertise in C/C++ for embedded systems, including deep debugging, performance analysis, and optimization at system level.
• Proficient use of Python for automation, tooling, or system-level validation.
• Extensive experience with embedded Linux and firmware running on complex, multi-processor hardware platforms.
• Proven leadership in real-time systems, including close interaction with hardware components, drivers, and low-level system software.
• Expert-level understanding of firmware design principles, system architecture, and long-term maintainable embedded software design.
• In-depth knowledge of communication interfaces such as I2C, SPI, Ethernet, and related protocols.
• Strong experience with modern development practices, including version control, CI/CD pipelines, and scalable development workflows.
• Demonstrated ability to define and own firmware architecture, aligning technical decisions with product strategy and long-term platform goals.
• Strong understanding of physical and measurement principles, with the ability to apply this knowledge at system and platform level.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence technical direction across cross-functional and multi-disciplinary teams.
• Strong command of English in written and spoken communication.

Preferred:

• Hands-on experience with optical and/or photonic systems and related technologies.
• Working knowledge of FPGA / VHDL concepts and hardware–software co-design.
• Experience defining and driving automated testing strategies for embedded and firmware systems.
• Experience with bare-metal and low-level firmware development on embedded platforms.

Careers Privacy Statement. Keysight is an Equal Opportunity Employer.