Staff Embedded Software Engineer - Camera Firmware

About the role

Verkada is transforming how organizations protect their people and places with an integrated, privacy-sensitive AI-powered platform that includes solutions for video security, access control, air quality sensors, alarms, intercoms, and visitor management. We've got serious momentum in the market: more than 30,000 customers (including 100+ of the Fortune 500), a $5.8B valuation , more than $1 billion in annualized bookings, and backing from CapitalG, Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, Felicis Ventures, Next47 and more. Physical AI is one of the most consequential technology shifts of our time, and Verkada is at the center of it. You can look at all kinds of communities to see our platform's impact in the world. It's the retailer that uses our agentic AI to deter theft before it happens. The warehouse that uses AI-powered alerts to make sure its team is protected on the floor with proper PPE. The school that's alerted to a threat in real-time and triggers a lockdown in seconds, not minutes. We're rapidly scaling this impact: today, more than 2 million Verkada devices are deployed across 170+ countries. As a Staff Embedded Software Engineer, you will spearhead the development of brand-new camera categories while driving the continued growth and reliability of our ever-expanding global fleet. This role is a high-impact technical leadership position requiring seamless collaboration across the entire stack-including Hardware, Product, Backend, and Frontend teams-to bring first-generation systems to life. Reporting directly to the Camera Firmware Manager, you will work full-time at our HQ in San Mateo to oversee the technical lifecycle of our newest hardware and ensure the operational excellence of a multi-million device, perpetually online IoT footprint.

Responsibilities

• Unlocking New Markets: Lead the end-to-end lifecycle of entirely new camera categories for untapped market segments. Collaborate directly with Hardware and Product teams during the initial co-design phase, to influence HW selection and feature scoping.
• Architectural Leadership: Own the firmware roadmap and drive the large-scale architectural changes required to support novel features across the entire stack-from low-level MCUs to Linux-based edge services.
• System-Wide Technical Depth: Engineer high-performance features across a diverse software landscape, spanning bare-metal MCU firmware, secure bootloaders, Linux kernel optimizations, and concurrent userspace services.
• Complex Problem Solving: Tackle the most "gnarly" system-level challenges, from non-deterministic race conditions and memory corruption to elusive hardware-software timing issues that only emerge at the scale of a million-device fleet.
• Navigate Multi-Dimensional Trade-offs: Systematically balance conflicting priorities-including hardware security hardening, peak performance, power efficiency, and deep fleet observability
• Cross-Functional Optimization: Partner with CV, Streaming, and Storage teams to architect vertically integrated features that push the boundaries of edge computing and real-time computer vision.
• Operational Excellence at Scale: Champion a reliability-first culture for a global fleet of 1.5 million perpetually online devices, designing the deployment and monitoring strategies that ensure 24/7 uptime.
• What You Bring
• BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
• 10+ years of professional experience in systems software development for performance and resource-constrained environments.
• 5+ years of experience building software for Linux-based platforms .
• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale, cross-functional initiatives from concept to production. You have a history of aligning diverse engineering verticals to deliver complex systems on aggressive timelines.
• Proven experience leading initial board bring-up and hardware-software co-design for first-generation embedded devices.
• Hands-on experience with low-level protocols ( SPI , I2C , UART , USB ) and the ability to debug complex hardware-software interactions.
• Experience designing, implementing and debugging concurrent/multithreaded firmware services
• Strong understanding of modern operating systems , computer architecture , and trade-offs between compute, memory, and storage .
• Proficient in at least one systems programming language: C++ or Golang .
• Familiarity with Bash scripting and Python for tooling and automation.
• Bonus Qualification: Direct experience with Linux Kernel development, including writing or debugging drivers, managing device trees, or optimizing kernel-space performance.
• Bonus Qualification: Technical depth in MCU firmware and the boot stack , with a focus on RTOS, bare-metal development, or secure boot implementation.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills, with the ability to collaborate across engineering and product teams.
• US Employee Benefits
• Verkada is committed to fostering a workplace environment that pr

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