DevOps Lead, Embedded Firmware

Job summary

ASSA ABLOY is seeking a DevOps Lead for their Americas Firmware Engineering group, focusing on the Centrios IoT smart lock platform. This role involves owning the full firmware lifecycle from commit to production artifact, requiring deep embedded systems knowledge and hands-on hardware validation. The position is onsite in New Haven, CT, and reports to the Director of Firmware and Hardware.

Benefits

Qualifications

• 10+ years in DevOps or infrastructure engineering
• 5+ years in embedded systems or firmware CI/CD
• Demonstrated team leadership experience (3+ direct reports in QA, SDET, or embedded automation)
• Expert-level GitLab CI/CD experience (pipeline design, runner fleet management, conditional execution, artifact handling)
• Robot Framework experience (authoring, keyword architecture, CI integration, Robocop linting)
• Python 3.10+ experience (test automation libraries, CLI tools, protocol parsers, CI scripting)
• Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) experience (operation and expansion of test infrastructure with real device hardware)
• Embedded protocol knowledge: BLE, Zigbee (IEEE 802.15.4 / ZCL), or UART at integration test level
• Firmware build systems experience: Make-based (ABS/MBS) or Bazel (understanding of cross-compilation targets)
• OTA firmware update pipelines and firmware signing experience
• SAFe or equivalent large-scale Agile program coordination experience

Responsibilities

• Own the full firmware lifecycle from commit to production artifact
• Lead Software Development Engineers in Test (SDET) and embedded automation teams
• Define KPIs, career ladders, and onboarding paths for firmware QA and SDET roles
• Collaborate with Firmware Architects, Product Owners, and System Architects to align test strategy with release goals
• Drive improvements in quality metrics, traceability, and feedback loop speed
• Build and maintain domain-specific Claude Code agent skills for CI debugging, test authoring, and embedded firmware analysis
• Develop MCP servers that expose CI/CD data to AI agents
• Integrate AI tooling into team workflow to accelerate development
• Own and improve CI/CD pipelines for embedded firmware, ensuring fast, reliable builds and releases
• Maintain infrastructure supporting automated testing, build execution, and artifact delivery
• Support and expand the Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) testing environment
• Develop lightweight test fixtures and automation tools for hardware validation
• Build and maintain automated test suites covering BLE, Zigbee, OTA, and system-level functionality
• Establish testing standards, improve test reliability, and contribute to product quality
• Manage the firmware release workflow, including signing, packaging, and delivering builds
• Improve release traceability, versioning, and documentation
• Create internal tools and AI-assisted workflows to aid debugging, testing, and shipping

Skills

Relocation