Embedded Linux Software Tech Lead

• Duration:                          Long term, with rolling extensions every quarter
• No. of working hours:    40 hours per week
• Location:                           Fully remote, you need to be based in Poland though
• Contract type:                 One-man company
• VISA sponsorship:            No

What is the project about?
We are looking for an experienced Embedded Linux Software Technical Lead to drive the development of our multi-platform Digital TV / Set-Top Box (STB) software stack, built on Yocto and the RDK-Video framework. This is a hands-on leadership role: you will combine deep, low-level embedded engineering with technical leadership of the platform team, ownership of the development process, and day-to-day technical cooperation with SoC and OEM vendors.
You will work across the full software lifecycle — from platform bring-up, kernel, and device drivers through native middleware — while guiding the team, shaping the technical direction of the stack, and resolving the most complex cross-system issues.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, and maintenance of the Digital TV / STB software stack and its graphical components.
• Own low-level platform work: platform bring-up, bootloader/booter porting, and kernel and device-driver integration, development, and bug-fixing.
• Port and adapt the software stack and drivers across a variety of hardware architectures (e.g., MIPS, ARM, IA32) and SoC platforms.
• Develop and maintain native middleware services and the device porting layer on top of the RDK-Video framework.
• Enhance and stabilise the platform, delivering performance improvements across both the embedded system and the CI/CD pipelines.
• Lead triage, debugging, and resolution of complex, cross-system issues from kernel level up to userspace middleware.
• Collaborate with the RDK community and contribute to shared and upstream components.

Leadership, Process & Collaboration

• Act as Technical Lead for the platform and middleware team, combining project-wide technical ownership with hands-on development.
• Mentor and coach engineers, including onboarding and supporting junior engineers and new hires during their trial period.
• Own and evolve the software development process: source-code repository structure, code-management and code-review policy, build-system automation, continuous integration and verification automation, and integration and release rules.
• Define and manage the model of cooperation with external software houses, including integration of their deliverables.
• Drive day-to-day technical cooperation with SoC and OEM vendors, and cooperate with ODM engineers during hardware platform development — defining requirements based on customer expectations, testing, and porting the software stack.
• Work closely with the software Architects team: contribute to the definition of stack components, evaluate proposed designs, and provide expert input on STB/embedded-specific solutions, limitations, and requirements.
• Step in as Scrum Master / agile facilitator for the team when needed.

Required Skills & Experience

• 15+ years of C/C++ development for embedded systems, including senior or technical-lead-level experience.
• Proven technical leadership: leading engineering teams, mentoring, and owning technical decisions on a complex, multi-platform project.
• Proficiency in algorithmic and programming patterns; strong software design and design-patterns skills, including multi-threaded and multi-process synchronisation.
• Expert knowledge of Linux systems and kernel internals.
• Proven, hands-on embedded Linux development: device drivers, non-OS drivers, networking, user-space/kernel-space communication, IPC, firewall, and containerisation.
• Demonstrated experience porting software components and drivers across multiple architectures (e.g., MIPS, ARM, IA32).
• Expert knowledge of OpenEmbedded/Yocto.
• Expert knowledge of the RDK software stack — its concepts, extension and porting API (IPC communication, module interdependency, containers, device porting layer).
• Hands-on experience with embedded Linux system-hardening principles.
• Very good knowledge of Linux filesystems across a variety of storage media (e.g., NAND/NOR flash, HDD, SSD), including embedded and streaming filesystems.
• Strong CI/CD experience, ideally including designing and owning build, integration, and verification automation.
• Hardware background: comfortable working at the hardware level, with a good understanding of software-to-hardware protocols and communication buses; able to use an oscilloscope and similar generic signal meters.
• Ability to read and understand electronic-circuit schematics to implement or resolve hardware-dependent issues.

Technologies & Domain Expertise

• Networking protocols: expert knowledge of TCP/IP (IPv4 and IPv6), DHCP, PPP, DNS, 802.11, IGMP, UPnP, DLNA, nginx, and similar.
• WiFi: expert knowledge of WiFi technology and standards, including a deep understanding of the transmission-control protocols beneath standard network protocols; major differences across standards (e.g., WiFi 6 vs WiFi 5); and the ability to capture and analyse WiFi traffic at the control-protocol level. Hands-on experience with WiFi Alliance certification tools and test suites.
• Networking functionality: QoS, NAT, port forwarding, security and firewall, reverse proxy.
• Storage: HDD, SSD, NAND/NOR flash, and the filesystems used in embedded systems.
• Remote controller and game-pad technologies: Bluetooth, RF4CE, Infrared.
• Bluetooth stacks: Fluoride and BlueZ.
• SoC thermal control and power management: Operational, Standby, Network Standby, Deep Standby, etc.
• System hardening: containerisation and its implications for embedded systems.
• SoC security: knowledge of SoC security features.

Attributes

• A problem-solver attitude and the ability to think outside the box.
• Strong analytical skills to debug and solve complex, cross-system issues.

Nice to Have

• Experience with the DVB family of technology standards.
• DOCSIS / cable-modem integration with an STB platform (built-in and external chip modules).
• Experience developing DVR engines and custom/streaming filesystems, including high-performance SATA/AHCI drivers.
• Familiarity with ARM and SH4 assembler.
• Scrum Master / agile facilitation experience.

Education

• MS or BS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field or equivalent work experience.

Does this role spark your interest? Then please provide me with your most recent resume and contact details, so that we can discuss this vacancy in more detail by phone!

You can check other job opportunities in our website: https://www.magno-it.nl/jobs