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# Firmware Lead

- **Company:** Kandou AI
- **Location:** Cambridge, UK
- **Experience:** Expert
- **Contract:** Permanent contract
- **Skills:** Board Bringup, Adobe Flash, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Unit Testing, Booting (BIOS), C++ (Programming Language), CMake, Content Management Interoperability Services, Static Program Analysis, Code Review, Computer Engineering, Software Debugging, Embedded Software, Firmware, Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), FreeRTOS, Joint Test Action (IEEE Standards), Python (Programming Language), PCI Express, Quick EMUlator (QEMU), Real-Time Operating Systems, Reduced Instruction Set Computing, SystemC, Time Tracking Software, Application Specific Integrated Circuits, Concurrency, State Machines, Gitlab, Git, Information Technology, Production Code, Bare Metal, U-Boot
- **Published:** October 19, 2026
- **Apply:** https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=c58436124c60dfa8

## About the Role

* 8+ years developing and debugging production real-time firmware in C/C++, including 2+ years leading firmware modules, projects or a small team.
 * Expert hands-on C/C++ in resource-constrained systems, with recent evidence of personal code delivery, code review and complex defect resolution.
 * Firmware experience on a retimer, gearbox, PHY, AEC, AOC, optical module, networking ASIC or comparable high-speed mixed hardware/software product.
 * RISC-V and/or ARM bare-metal or RTOS firmware, including interrupts, traps, CSR or register access, concurrency and tight RAM/flash budgets.
 * RTOS development with Zephyr, FreeRTOS or equivalent; ownership of scheduling, synchronization, timing and failure recovery.
 * At least one silicon or board bring-up cycle using JTAG and related debug mechanisms, with root-cause analysis across firmware, drivers, RTL and hardware.
 * Python, Git/GitLab, Make/CMake, CI, unit and integration testing, and static analysis, with disciplined reproducible development workflows.

BS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering or Computer Science, or equivalent experience; strong communication, planning, mentoring and cross-functional leadership.

## Description

As Firmware Lead, you will lead implementation and delivery of real-time embedded firmware for Kandou's Randa 1.6T Active Electrical Cable platform. This is a coding-heavy technical leadership role: you will spend the majority of your time writing and reviewing C/C++, debugging firmware and hardware interactions, and supporting pre-silicon and post-silicon bring-up. You will turn the Firmware Architect's system design into production code, own implementation quality and delivery, and mentor engineers while remaining active in the codebase., * Lead the implementation and delivery of real-time embedded firmware for AEC retimer silicon across 224G/lane, 448G/lane and forward-looking 896G/lane configurations; remain a hands-on C/C++ contributor.

 * Implement and maintain boot, configuration, calibration, link-training, fault-recovery and run-time supervision state machines on resource-constrained RISC-V or ARM platforms.
 * Translate approved firmware architecture into module designs, APIs, task and interrupt models, memory budgets and hardware/software contracts; surface implementation tradeoffs early.
 * Code, debug and optimize firmware for SerDes equalization and adaptation, FEC-aware monitoring and re-adaptation, telemetry capture, thermal behavior and power management.
 * Own low-level drivers and management interfaces including SPI, I2C/SMBus, I3C, MCTP and JTAG, and integrate firmware services with the CMIS management layer.
 * Drive pre-silicon development and first-silicon bring-up; isolate issues across firmware, RTL, boards and lab setups using JTAG, register traces and targeted instrumentation.
 * Set coding and review standards; build unit, integration and hardware-in-loop tests; enforce CI, static analysis and release evidence; improve Python-based build, debug and test tools.
 * Break the roadmap into deliverable work packages, estimate and track execution, mentor firmware engineers and coordinate with architecture, ASIC, DV, validation, SI and applications teams., * IEEE 802.3ck or 802.3dj link training and equalization, SerDes adaptation algorithms, channel-quality monitoring and register-level PHY tuning.
 * FEC exposure including KP4 or RS-544, pre-FEC and post-FEC telemetry, symbol-error analysis and FEC-aware recovery behavior.
 * CMIS 5.x firmware integration, module or datapath state machines, VDM telemetry, and sideband protocols including SMBus, I3C and MCTP.
 * Bootloaders, secure boot, root of trust, authenticated A/B firmware updates, rollback protection and field-recovery mechanisms.
 * Pre-silicon firmware development using QEMU, SystemC, FPGA, simulation or emulation; heterogeneous multicore or vector-processing systems.

PCIe or CXL, hyperscaler qualification, interoperability debugging, and production support for field or manufacturing issues.