Senior Manager, Firmware Development

Quick Facts

• Role: Senior Manager, Firmware Development

Description

Lead and manage a team of firmware engineers responsible for designing, developing, integrating, debugging, and delivering embedded firmware for complex storage products. The role emphasizes people leadership, disciplined engineering practices, and cross-functional collaboration across the product lifecycle. You will drive technical execution, risk management, and continuous improvement while partnering with hardware, systems, validation, program, quality, and manufacturing teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead, develop, and retain firmware engineers across architecture, design, implementation, integration, debug, and sustaining
• Set team goals, priorities, and execution plans aligned to product roadmaps, schedules, and quality expectations
• Drive disciplined firmware development (design reviews, coding standards, defect management, test strategy, release readiness)
• Provide technical leadership across data structures, algorithms, drivers, control paths, and hardware interfaces
• Guide debugging of complex issues across firmware, hardware, system, and platform interactions; close corrective actions via root-cause analysis
• Partner with ASIC, hardware, systems, validation, manufacturing, reliability, and program teams to deliver complete solutions
• Balance short-term delivery with long-term improvements to capability, processes, tools, and technical roadmap
• Review technical designs and analyses to ensure sound decisions, tradeoffs, and risk management
• Create an accountable, collaborative environment supporting engineers at different experience levels
• Manage resource planning, work allocation, hiring, onboarding, and succession planning
• Communicate status, risks, dependencies, and key technical decisions to leadership and stakeholders
• Ensure complete, maintained documentation across requirements, designs, investigations, and release materials

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant technical field; advanced degree preferred
• 7+ years embedded/firmware development experience
• 1+ year people management or equivalent leadership experience
• Strong C/C++ expertise for embedded firmware, including low-level software, device control, drivers, and hardware/software integration
• Experience leading teams through full product development cycles from concept to release and sustaining
• Demonstrated ability to manage engineers with a broad range of experience
• Strong problem-solving, debugging, and root-cause analysis skills in complex system environments
• Strong written and verbal communication skills for technical and management audiences

Benefits

• Paid vacation and paid sick leave
• Medical/dental/vision insurance
• Life, accident, and disability insurance
• Tax-advantaged flexible spending and health savings accounts
• Employee assistance program
• Optional voluntary benefits (e.g., supplemental life/AD&D, legal plan, pet insurance, critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity)
• Tuition reimbursement and transit support
• Applause Program
• Employee stock purchase plan
• WD Savings 401(k)