Team Lead, Embedded Software Development and Test

Team Lead, Embedded Software Development and Test

Ottawa, ON, Canada · Full-time · 100% in office

We are seeking an experienced Team Lead to drive the development of embedded and AI-enabled systems. This role combines technical leadership, delivery ownership, and cross-functional coordination. You will shape software architecture, define detailed requirements, and ensure successful execution across software and test teams.

This is a hands-on leadership role, a player-coach who stays close to the code. You will be the technical anchor for the team, contributing directly to the codebase while providing guidance and support to developers and testers. The focus is engineering excellence, technical strategy, and team enablement rather than direct people management, though the role may grow to include it.

Key responsibilities

Technical leadership and architecture

• Define and drive software architecture for embedded and AI-based systems.
• Lead the design, development, and testing of complex embedded systems while maintaining a high level of individual technical contribution in coding and debugging.
• Make key design decisions, balancing performance, scalability, and maintainability.
• Act as the technical point of contact for the team on architecture, implementation, and troubleshooting.
• Lead and participate in design and code reviews, and resolve complex system-level challenges.

Requirements and delivery ownership

• Own and refine software and system-level requirements, ensuring they are clear, feasible, testable, and traceable.
• Work with Product Management and stakeholders to translate high-level needs into detailed technical specifications.
• Align requirements with architecture, implementation, and verification strategy.
• Own end-to-end delivery, including scope, schedule, and quality, planning and tracking work with Project and Product Management.
• Identify risks early and drive mitigation strategies.

Quality and verification

• Define and oversee the test strategy, ensuring coverage aligned with requirements across unit, integration, and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) verification.
• Promote best practices in test automation, CI/CD, and validation frameworks.
• Support integration, debugging, and system-level validation efforts.
• Maintain and improve development workflows, including CI/CD pipelines, version control, and automated testing frameworks.

Team coordination and mentorship

• Oversee day-to-day activities of cross-functional software and test teams, prioritizing and balancing workloads to meet project objectives.
• Facilitate collaboration between development, validation, and system teams, and drive continuous improvement in development and test processes.
• Mentor engineers and testers, promoting best practices in embedded C/C++, RTOS, and hardware integration.
• Foster a culture of engineering excellence, accountability, and continuous learning.

Stakeholder and business contribution

• Serve as the primary technical interface for internal and external stakeholders, communicating progress, risks, and trade-offs clearly.
• Work closely with the Product Owner and leadership to refine requirements and prioritize features.
• Contribute to business proposals, including technical solutions, estimates, and feasibility assessments.
• Support hiring activities, including candidate evaluation and technical interviews, and help shape engineering practices, tools, and standards.

Qualifications & experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in embedded software development, with at least 3 years in a technical leadership or senior capacity.
• Expert proficiency in C and C++, with a deep understanding of resource-constrained environments and low-level hardware interactions.
• Experience with Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) and bare-metal development.
• Proven track record of architecting and delivering production-grade embedded systems.
• Strong knowledge of communication protocols such as CAN, LIN, SPI, I2C, Ethernet, and UART.
• Experience designing and implementing automated testing strategies and HIL systems.
• Proficiency with debugging tools such as JTAG, logic analyzers, and oscilloscopes, and with version control (Git).
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience in the automotive, IoT, or industrial sectors.
• Familiarity with CI/CD practices and agile development methodologies.

Other requirements

This role is 100% work from office, based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Relocation of candidates will not be considered or provided.

• Opportunity to lead and shape the engineering vision of next-gen solutions.
• Collaborative and fast-paced work environment.
• A chance to work on cutting-edge technology and make a real business impact.
• A chance to work with customers on the cutting edge of technology development and adoption.

About Averian

Averian is a global software development and engineering services company specializing in AI, embedded systems, and custom applications. With offices in North America and Europe, Averian supports clients in telecom, automotive, industrial, and med-tech sectors with innovative solutions designed for performance, scalability, and real-world impact.

Only qualified applicants will be contacted. Thank you for your interest.