Principal Software Engineer

About the job

The candidate will be responsible to lead development of OpenWrt-based firmware for our next-generation wireless routers. You will be the technical authority across the OpenWrt stack—bootloaders, kernel, drivers, networking, security, and system services—while setting architecture direction, mentoring engineers, and delivering production-grade firmware at scale.

This is a high-impact, hands-on role driving roadmap, quality, and performance for devices used in safety- and mission-critical deployments.

What You’ll Do

Architecture & Ownership

• Own the end-to-end OpenWrt platform: kernel, drivers, mac80211/cfg80211, hostapd/wpa_supplicant, UCI, init/system services, CI/CD, production and release tooling.
• Define technical strategy for Wi‑Fi 6/6E/7 and multi-radio, multi-band products (AP/STA/mesh), including roaming/fast transition (802.11r/k/v) and advanced QoS.
• Lead the abstraction of hardware capabilities for performance and power efficiency.

Platform Development

• Build and maintain code packages for Qualcomm/Atheros SoCs, including device tree, board bring-up, flash partitions, bootloaders (U‑Boot), and factory calibration flows.
• Develop and optimize wireless features: channel and power management, DFS, ACS, MLO (for Wi‑Fi 7), and multi-link optimizations where applicable.
• Implement robust security baselines: secure boot, firmware signing, key storage, sandboxing, MAC hardening, and reproducible builds.

Networking & System

• Implement routing/firewall features (policy routing, VRF, VLANs, bridge/DSA, IPv4/IPv6, NAT, WireGuard/IPsec).
• Build observability/telemetry: structured logging, metrics, tracing, remote diagnostics, crash triage, and safe recovery.
• Own OTA update strategy: A/B updates, rollback, delta packages, device identity & provisioning, staged rollouts, and SBOM generation.

Quality & Delivery

• Establish CI/CD for OpenWrt (reproducible builds, artifact signing, incremental SDKs, containerized toolchains).
• Define test strategies: HIL rigs, RF test automation, throughput/latency/jitter benchmarks, roaming, soak tests, and regression suites.
• Drive regulatory & compliance readiness (FCC/CE/RED/DFS), EMI/RF validation workflows with the RF/HW teams.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Mentor a team of firmware and networking engineers; set coding standards and review culture.
• Collaborate with RF, Hardware, Product, QA, and Manufacturing to ensure reliable factory provisioning, calibration, and field reliability.
• Engage with customers on critical escalations and guide field debug.
• Contribute to upstream where strategic and maintain internal forks responsibly.

Qualifications

Must‑Have

• 10+ years in embedded Linux, with 6+ years hands‑on OpenWrt (Buildroot-like build system, feeds, SDK, UCI, procd, ubus/ubox).
• Deep expertise in Linux networking (netfilter/nftables, qdisc/tc, DSA, bridging, VLAN, IPv4, IPv6, DHCP, DNS).
• Strong background in 802.11 (mac80211/cfg80211, hostapd/wpa_supplicant) and Wi‑Fi feature development (roaming, mesh/802.11s, WPA2/3‑SAE).
• Kernel and driver experience (device tree, interrupts, DMA, memory management, power management).
• Proven delivery of production firmware for Qualcomm/Atheros SoCs.
• Proficiency in C, shell, and Python; comfort with Git, Gerrit, and code review at scale.
• Track record of leading complex programs and mentoring senior engineers.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Wi‑Fi 6E/7, MLO, MU‑MIMO, OFDMA tuning, DFS certifications, and region‑specific regulatory profiles.
• Hardware acceleration paths (e.g., NSS, NSS‑ECM, Packet Steering/RPS/XPS, NSS crypto).
• Security: Secure boot/TrustZone, FIPS, TPM, measured boot, SBOM, CVE triage, and patch pipelines.
• Contribution history to OpenWrt, Linux kernel, hostapd, wpa_supplicant, or related OSS.

What You’ll Work On in the First 6–12 Months

• Establish and stabilize a production-grade OpenWrt software baseline across Doodle Labs wireless router platforms, including build system structure, feeds, and long-term maintenance strategy.
• Lead development of core OpenWrt system components: kernel configuration, device trees, board support packages (BSPs), networking stack, wireless configuration, and system services.
• Drive performance tuning and reliability hardening for wireless routing use cases, including CPU/memory optimization, wireless stability, and long-duration uptime.
• Define and document coding standards, branching strategy, and release workflows for OpenWrt firmware development.
• Design and implement a scalable CI/CD pipeline for OpenWrt firmware:
• Integrate automated testing into CI (unit, integration, system-level, and smoke tests) to catch regressions early.
• Improve build times, developer productivity, and visibility through enhanced tooling, dashboards, and failure triage processes.