Staff Embedded Engineer (NPI Tech Lead)

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provide technical leadership and architectural ownership for firmware platforms and system-level components used across one or more WHOOP product lines.

• Design, develop, and test embedded firmware in C, contributing hands-on to critical areas while ensuring solutions scale across platforms and product generations.

• Autonomously identify, define, and drive solutions to ambiguous, cross-cutting firmware and system-level problems with long-term departmental impact.

• Influence firmware, hardware, and manufacturing roadmaps by identifying technical risks, opportunities, and strategic investments across multiple quarters.

• Lead the resolution of complex, cross-team issues spanning firmware, hardware, manufacturing, and system integration, including root cause analysis and long-term prevention.

• Define and uphold firmware architecture standards, documentation practices, and design review expectations adopted across the Embedded group.

• Lead code and design reviews across teams, setting the bar for clarity, correctness, maintainability, and long-term quality.

• Define and drive scalable testing, validation, and CI strategies that improve firmware quality and developer velocity across teams.

• Influence hardware design decisions by evaluating components, defining firmware-hardware interfaces, and proactively identifying system-level tradeoffs.

• Drive alignment across Electrical, Signal Processing, Mobile, Manufacturing, and Product teams, resolving ambiguity and ensuring cohesive system design.

• Mentor and sponsor senior engineers and emerging technical leaders, multiplying impact by raising the technical bar across teams.

• Identify and drive strategic investments that improve performance, power efficiency, stability, and reliability across firmware platforms.

• Leverage AI and emerging development tools to improve firmware development practices, establishing best practices across the Embedded group.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.

• 8+ years of embedded firmware development experience, including ownership of system-level architecture or platform components across multiple products or generations.

• Expert-level proficiency in C and embedded systems development on 32-bit RISC architectures (e.g., ARM Cortex).

• Strong experience with low-power embedded system design and optimization.

• Experience working with operating systems (OS) and real-time operating systems (RTOS).

• Deep understanding of system communication protocols such as I2C, SPI, USART/UART, and BLE.

• Strong experience with electronics debugging tools including oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, multimeters, power supplies, and power measurement equipment.

• Proven experience leading technically ambiguous, cross-team initiatives and influencing technical direction without formal authority.

• Strong understanding of electrical engineering fundamentals, including reading schematics and hardware specifications.

• Experience with version control using git and modern CI/CD workflows.

• Experience with unit, integration, and system-level testing for embedded systems.

• Experience working on high-volume consumer electronics products preferred.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Recognized technical leader who operates as a force multiplier across teams and consistently drives alignment, execution, and long-term technical direction.