Embedded Software Technical Lead

At Kandou, we are redefining the economics of AI infrastructure. Our mission is to democratise AI by significantly reducing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of hardware systems — a critical barrier to scalable adoption.

Our proprietary MIMO-over-copper technology powers a high-performance, chiplet-based AI memory fabric that is both scalable and energy-efficient. Unlike traditional interconnects, our solution reduces power consumption significantly while preserving high bandwidth and ultra-low latency — unlocking unprecedented efficiency for AI training and inference at scale.

As Embedded Software Technical Lead, you will lead the implementation and delivery of assigned firmware modules and workstreams for Kandou's new ASIC products, under the technical direction of the overall Firmware Lead. You will remain hands-on in coding, debugging and bring-up, while mentoring engineers working on your scope. The overall Firmware Lead owns the firmware roadmap, team-wide priorities and release decisions; this role owns execution within the agreed architecture and project plan.

Responsabilities

• Lead the design, development, test and maintenance of assigned real-time firmware modules for high-speed heterogeneous SoC platforms.
• Translate agreed system requirements into module designs and hardware/software interfaces; review architecture and interface changes with the Firmware Lead and architects.
• Plan and coordinate assigned work: estimate effort, track dependencies and milestones, and escalate risks and priority conflicts to the Firmware Lead.
• Remain hands-on in C/C++ development, RTOS integration, low-level drivers, bootloaders, secure boot and reliable firmware updates.
• Drive bring-up, hardware/software integration and root-cause analysis for assigned firmware, working with silicon design and validation teams.
• Lead module-level design and code reviews, apply team coding and test standards, and provide validation evidence and documentation for firmware release reviews.
• Mentor engineers on assigned work, guide implementation decisions and share knowledge; align broader technical decisions with the Firmware Lead.

Coordinate with validation and applications teams to resolve integration and field issues; improve the software tools supporting silicon development and debug.

Essential Experience

• 10+ years of experience designing, coding and debugging real-time embedded applications in C and/or C++, including 2+ years providing technical leadership for firmware modules or projects.
• Demonstrated ownership of firmware module delivery from requirements and design through bring-up, validation and release integration within a wider engineering team.
• Strong embedded SoC experience with bare-metal and RTOS environments, including RTOS porting and integration with Zephyr, FreeRTOS or equivalent.
• Knowledge of RISC-V architecture and hands-on bare-metal or RTOS firmware development for RV32/RV64 cores, including trap handling, CSR access and toolchain setup.
• Board and SoC bring-up using JTAG and other debug mechanisms; ability to diagnose complex issues across firmware, drivers and hardware.
• Experience interfacing with hardware and peripherals using SPI, I2C/SMBus, I3C and JTAG, and implementing bootloaders, secure boot and firmware update flows.
• Proficiency in Python or another modern scripting language, and practical use of Git/GitLab, CI, Make/CMake and automated unit and integration testing.
• Strong design-review, documentation, organisational, presentation and mentoring skills; ability to align cross-functional teams and learn new technical areas.

Useful Experience

• Heterogeneous multicore systems with scalar and vector processors; embedded Linux, memory and network interfaces, and virtual memory.
• High-speed signalling technologies such as PCIe and CXL, including link training, equalization and retimer/redriver interaction with host and device PHYs.
• Firmware for Active Electrical Cable (AEC) or retimer/redriver ASICs, including cable diagnostics, eye margin monitoring, temperature/voltage telemetry and power-state management.
• Management and sideband protocols including SMBus, I3C, MCTP and CMIS; SerDes technology and PHY register-level tuning.
• Simulation, co-simulation and FPGA platforms for pre-silicon firmware development; HyperBus and HyperRAM technologies.

Cryptographic algorithms and secure firmware lifecycle practices, including authenticated updates, recovery and rollback protection.

If this is the role you have been looking for and you want to be part of a growing Company, with an exciting future then we would love to hear from you. Together We Kandou It!!