Senior Staff Systems Engineer

OUR MISSION SPAN IS ENABLING ELECTRIFICATION FOR ALL ⚡ WE ARE A MISSION-DRIVEN COMPANY DESIGNING, BUILDING, AND DEPLOYING PRODUCTS THAT ELECTRIFY THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT, REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS, AND SLOW THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE. - Decarbonization is the process to reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide, from entering our atmosphere. - Electrification is the process of replacing fossil fuel appliances that run on gas or oil with all-electric upgrades for a cleaner way to power our lives. AT SPAN, WE BELIEVE IN: - Enabling homes and vehicles powered by clean energy - Making electrification upgrades possible - Building more resilient homes with reliable backup - Designing a flexible and distributed electrical grid THE ROLE in this role, you are expected to be a master problem solver with the unique ability to break down complex, multi-layered challenges into simple, elegant solutions that align with business goals. You will act as a technical leader, influencing key decisions and taking ownership of end-to-end system considerations specifically at the intersection of hardware and the cloud to ensure every architectural choice supports long-term scalability, reliability, and cost-efficiency. Beyond high-level planning, you will take a "platform-first" approach by consolidating tools and tooling to streamline analysis and resolution across the stack. You are the ultimate guardian of technical quality, rigorously reviewing designs and solutions while maintaining the flexibility to get your hands dirty in the trenches to drive execution, solve critical issues, and turn innovative ideas into a robust, high-performance platform. Key Responsibilities: - Serve as a master problem solver by distilling complex, multi-layered technical challenges into simple, elegant solutions that align with core business goals and architectural integrity. - Influence high-impact decisions and take ownership of end-to-end system considerations, acting as a hands-on leader to drive execution and solve critical issues within the trenches. - Champion a "platform-first" approach by consolidating tools and simplifying technical stacks to streamline analysis, resolution, and overall system quality across firmware and cloud domains. - Drive strategic execution by designing high-performance systems that ensure long-term scalability and reliability, including Cloud Backend, automated deployments, and Infrastructure-as-Code. - Architect the integration between firmware and cloud, focusing on secure device-to-cloud communication, Over-the-Air (OTA) updates, and robust edge computing strategies. - Consolidate and influence comprehensive observability frameworks to ensure proactive incident management across the entire IoT lifecycle, from device firmware to cloud ingestion and cost control. - Provide technical mentorship and conduct rigorous design reviews to promote best practices in both embedded systems and cloud-native architecture to maintain total system integrity. Required Qualifications: - 15+ years of experience in technical leadership roles, specifically focused on the integration of hardware, firmware, and cloud ecosystems. - Deep expertise in C/C++ for RTOS (FreeRTOS, Zephyr) or Bare-metal environments, and a strong understanding of MCU/MPU architectures. - Proven experience architecting backends for IoT, utilizing Cloud Native services (Lambda/Functions, Kubernetes, NoSQL, Event-driven architecture). - Expert knowledge of device-to-cloud communication (MQTT, CoAP, HTTPS) and wireless protocols (Wi-Fi, BLE, Cellular). - Proficiency in Docker, Kubernetes, and IaC tools (Terraform, Ansible) specifically tailored for hardware-in-the-loop and cloud deployments. - Mastery of secure OTA update mechanisms, hardware root-of-trust, and edge data processing. - Strong experience with scripting languages such as Python or Bash for automation and system analysis. - Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive complex