Embedded Firmware Architect

Eaton's Electrical division is currently seeking an Embedded Firmware Architect to join our team in Raleigh, NC. This position will be a hybrid role as long as you live within 50 miles of our Raleigh, NC facility. Relocation benefits will be provided within the United States only.

As an Embedded Firmware Architect, you will own the firmware architecture for Eaton's next-generation and sustaining platforms across 3 phase UPS, energy transition, and EV charging product lines. You will set architectural direction, drive cross-platform consistency, and lead technical decisions that balance safety, performance, reliability, cybersecurity, and long-term maintainability. This role sets the firmware architectural direction for multiple CPS platforms and influences technology decisions across current and future product portfolios.

You will operate as a senior individual contributor with broad influence across global engineering teams, partnering closely with product, platform, controls, hardware, and verification teams.

The expected annual salary range for this role is $137,000 - $201,000 a year.

Please note the salary information shown above is a general guideline only. Salaries are based upon candidate skills, experience, and qualifications, as well as market and business considerations.

What you'll do:

• Architecture ownership: Define and evolve firmware architecture for platform and product variants (3 phase UPS / power conversion / charging), including module boundaries, interfaces, and non-functional requirements (timing, determinism, reliability, safety, and maintainability).
• Technical leadership at scale: Lead architecture and design reviews; set engineering standards; and align practices across global regions and projects.
• Develop architectural capability across the organization by coaching senior engineers and architects, influencing technical decision making standards, and raising overall firmware maturity.
• Roadmap + release strategy: Partner with product/platform owners to shape requirements, establish platform roadmap, and drive sustaining releases and next-gen platform plans.
• Cross-functional integration: Work with controls experts to translate inverter/rectifier/DC DC control needs into robust embedded implementations; coordinate with hardware engineering to ensure hardware-software co-design.
• Cybersecurity by design: Partner with the Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (CCoE) to embed corporate security requirements into architecture and evidence readiness for cybersecurity audits.
• System verification strategy: Drive verification architecture (HIL/PIL strategy, design verification test planning, fault injection and diagnostics approach) working alongside V&V teams and ensure traceability from requirements to test evidence.
• Production-quality execution: When critical issues arise, lead deep technical investigations and guide the team to root cause and corrective action; ensure lessons learned turn into measurable process and product improvements.

• Serve as the architectural authority for embedded firmware across multiple product families, ensuring reuse and platform integrity while enabling product differentiation.
• Define architecture artifacts (architecture specification, interface contracts, design rationale, verification strategy) and enforce their use in the SDLC.
• Act as the escalation and decision authority for complex, cross platform firmware architecture decisions and technical trade offs
• Establish and evolve coding standards, configuration management, branching/release practices, and integration strategies for global teams.
• Ensure firmware design meets requirements for real-time control, reliability, and high-power lab validation needs (e.g., instrumentation, oscilloscopes, power analyzers).
• Keep current on embedded firmware practices and relevant industry standards; integrate pragmatic improvements into Eaton's firmware processes.

• Minimum of a Bachelor's degree in engineering
• Minimum twelve (12) years embedded software/firmware development experience with C/C++ in real-time systems.
• Minimum five (5) years architecting or leading firmware designs for complex embedded platforms (multi-team or multi-product).
• Minimum three (3) years' experience with RTOS-based development (e.g., FreeRTOS, Zephyr).
• Minimum two (2) years' experience with power electronics firmware (UPS, inverter/rectifier/DC-DC controls, power conversion topologies)
• Eaton will not consider applicants for employment immigration sponsorship or support for this position. This means that Eaton will not support any CPT, OPT, or STEM OPT plans, F-1 to H-1B, H-1B cap registration, O-1, E-3, TN status, I-485 job portability, etc

• Master's degree in engineering from an accredited institution
• Controls/power electronics algorithm integration experience (MATLAB/PLECS exposure beneficial)
• Experience with embedded Linux
• Understanding of analog and digital circuitry
• Experience in regulated cybersecurity environments and secure development practices
• Ability to understand low level hardware specifications and ability to read, interpret and understand hardware schematics
• Experience in three phase power systems, power electronics and power conversion topologies
• Ability to simulate, analyze, and troubleshoot using HIL systems

• Communicates complex technical trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders and builds alignment
• Leads through influence; establishes consistency across global teams without "command-and-control."
• Brings architectural rigor without slowing delivery, focuses on what materially improves outcomes