---
title: 'Engineering Director, Firmware at Afero'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-director-firmware-afero-los-altos-hvts395jhvxe'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Engineering Director, Firmware at Afero

- **Company:** Afero
- **Location:** Los Altos, CA
- **Compensation:** $250k–$280k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-06-23
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/afero/18f40bca-a521-4ae8-9530-c3f9ca069d82

## Job description

Join Afero and change the world, a gazillion connections at a time! Our vision is to make all the world's devices really smart and truly secure, through innovation and scale. Come make it happen!

Afero is the leading PaaS for IoT manufacturers and brands, enabling connected devices to be both smart and secure. Afero built its foundation on security, data privacy, simplicity and ease of use. Today, Afero technology powers millions of devices across more than 1,000 SKUs from 50+ manufacturers, including well-known brands like Defiant, Hampton Bay and EcoSmart. Afero has more than 123 patents, one of the largest IoT patent portfolios globally, and was named an 2024 IoT Breakthrough Winner for IoT Security Platform of the Year. Afero is driven by a team of world-class executives and veterans in mobile, hardware, security, consumer and cloud, leveraging experience from Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, Disney, Roku and Danger. Afero provides a fantastic opportunity to explore and to expand your expertise while driving product innovation into exciting new ecosystems. To learn more, visit www.afero.io.

## Why you’ll want to work with us

For a small team, Afero engineers collectively do a little bit of everything—from cloud applications and infrastructure to mobile development on multiple platforms, firmware on a wide range of devices, to board-level hardware design and implementation of secure wireless devices. If you enjoy deep dives into assorted technology stacks to understand end-to-end system workflows, can adapt past experiences to new solutions, and can communicate technical ideas effectively, Afero is a fantastic opportunity to explore and to expand your expertise.

## What We’re Looking for

We want people with passion to build best in class technology, who will drive the evolution and scale of Afero’s platform. The range of disciplines and experience represented at Afero is broad and deep, and everyone on the team contributes meaningfully to our culture and our growth. We’re looking for builders and problem solvers who will bring perspective and skills to support our success, people with enthusiasm for digging into complexity, creating solutions, and driving effectiveness in a collaborative environment.

This Engineering Director, Firmware position requires an energetic and self-motivated individual with excellent communication, organization, and technical skills to work cross-functionally with other organizations (internal and external), who can communicate at all levels of management. This is a unique opportunity for a senior professional who enjoys a high level of independence, visibility and responsibility.

## Key Responsibilities

- Own, drive and improve Afero’s Firmware solutions and stack that support a broad range of products
- Collaborate with other stakeholders, internally and externally, to launch products from concept to mass production
- Recruit, manage and develop an exceptional firmware team maintaining a very high bar for deliverables and commitments
- Drive timely delivery of software to the factory for all stages of production, like EVT, DVT, PVT and MP
- Provide technical direction, guidance, and hands-on management
- Focus on improving all aspects of Firmware - design, architecture, implementation, release process, quality

Required Qualifications

- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering
- At least 10+ years of advancing experience in software engineering leadership or management roles
- 5+ years of relevant work experience developing consumer or commercial products in a fast-paced environment
- Experience managing teams that handle several concurrent products and making releases to meet commitments
- Real world embedded systems experience developing firmware with MCUs, RTOS, and device drivers for low power devices
- Experience porting BSPs and SDKs to new chipsets
- Strong C programming experience. Strong RTOS experience. Python experience is a plus.
- Cryptography experience is a huge plus.
- WiFi and Bluetooth Low Energy firmware development experience is a plus
- Proven capability to balance long-term strategic vision with immediate operational goals
- Proven track record of managing and coordinating with external technology vendors
- This role is a hybrid position, requiring occasional work in the office at the company headquarters in Los Altos, CA (may be up to 3 days per week).
- Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S.

Afero is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran or disability status.

## About Afero

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Afero provides a secure, end-to-end IoT platform (PaaS) that enables manufacturers to build, deploy, and manage smart connected devices with enterprise-grade security and ease of use.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series C, $100M total funding)
- **Headquarters**: Los Altos, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2014
- **Founders**: Joe Britt (CEO & Co-Founder), Shin Matsumura (Co-Founder & Board Member)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Internet of Things (IoT) platform, technology, information and internet
- **Target customers**: B2B – manufacturers and brands across consumer, industrial, and enterprise segments (e.g., Defiant, Hampton Bay, EcoSmart)
- **Mission statement**: "Make all the world's connected devices smart and secure."

## Products & Services
- **[Afero IoT Platform](https://www.afero.io/)**: A PaaS that covers the full stack from sensor to cloud – connectivity (Wi-Fi, BLE, voice), hardware root-of-trust security, fleet management, data analytics, and mobile app integration. Enables rapid prototyping, code reuse (~90% across projects), and reduces go-to-market time by up to 80%.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding $100M (Series C: $50M led by Crosspoint Capital Partners in Dec 2021); Annual Revenue ~$1.4M (2024 estimate)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center (Series A lead), Mistletoe (Series B lead), Crosspoint Capital Partners (Series C lead)
- **Growth Signals**: Powers millions of devices across 200+ product categories and 50+ manufacturers; holds 130+ patents (one of the largest IoT patent portfolios); named “IoT Security Platform of the Year” (2024); first IoT platform to sign CISA’s Secure by Design Pledge; appointed to UN Security Standards Working Party Chair (2025)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Security-first architecture**: Hardware root of trust, VPN-like tunneling without pairing, supply-chain security, and compliance with CISA standards.
- **Ease of use & rapid onboarding**: Automatic failover, secure Wi-Fi sharing over BLE, intuitive mobile app experience, and 99% fewer escalations reported by customers.
- **Scalability & reusability**: Designed for billions of devices and yottabytes of data; 90% code reuse across projects, reducing engineering effort.
- **Patented innovation**: One of the largest IoT patent portfolios globally, providing a deep moat in device connectivity and security.

## Strategic Focus
- Expand the AI-infused connected world by integrating IoT with AI and edge analytics.
- Strengthen enterprise security and compliance (e.g., CISA pledge, international standards leadership).
- Scale ecosystem through partnerships and a growing portfolio of device categories (industrial, consumer, enterprise).
- Continue to reduce time-to-market and simplify IoT deployment for manufacturers.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Work on genuinely hard problems across the full stack (firmware, hardware, cloud, mobile). Team includes veterans from Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, Roku, and Danger.
- **Work policy**: Hybrid – roles based in Los Altos, CA (with some remote flexibility for certain positions).
- **Perks**: 401k retirement plan; Platinum Blue Shield, Platinum Kaiser, and Gold health plans (Afero pays 90% of premiums, 75% for dependents).
- **Engineering culture**: Emphasizes code reusability, robust architecture, and “build something that matters.” Active job postings include Senior Software Engineer (Flutter/KMP), Engineering Director (Firmware), and Firmware Engineer.

## Sources
1. [afero.io - Homepage](https://www.afero.io/)
2. [afero.io - About Afero](https://afero.io/html/home/about-afero.html)
3. [afero.io - Careers](https://www.afero.io/html/home/careers.html)
4. [LinkedIn - Afero Company Page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/afero)
5. [Lever - Afero Jobs](https://jobs.lever.co/afero)

## Other roles at Afero

- [Senior Software Engineer — Mobile (Flutter / KMP)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-mobile-flutter-kmp-afero-los-altos-0p2tnm5fkeke) — Los Altos, CA
- [Senior Technical Program Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-technical-program-manager-afero-los-altos-nk0ejf44ydx4) — Los Altos, CA