PRINCIPAL FIRMWARE ENGINEER / TEAM LEAD 

Our mission is to improve the performance of athletes and teams, which we do by engineering the premier technology platform for sport. We've been at the forefront of sports technology and science since 2006 - we don't just work in the sporting industry, we are actively changing its future.  Our solutions are designed to help athletes and coaches “play smart” in a world where 1% can literally mean the difference between winning and losing.

We work with over 4,600 teams around the world, empowering coaches, managers and trainers in premier teams in the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, EPL, AFL, NRL, NCAA and more. We provide the information they need to optimise athletes’ health, game-day readiness, and performance, as well as in-game tactics.  Our solutions include wearable technology, video analytics, and athlete monitoring solutions, and we are passionate about helping sports organizations at all levels to better scout, recruit, teach, and win.

WE WANT PEOPLE WHO ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT STATE OF THE ART TECHNOLOGY  

We are looking for a talented and inquisitive Principal Firmware Engineer / Team Lead whose drive for learning and determination for continuous improvement aligns with our ambitious, fast-growing and transforming company. Based in Melbourne, you will be a key player in the Research & Development team that designs the wearable tracking hardware that Catapult is famous for. You will be working with the most cutting edge technology and integrating components across our wearables and stadium infrastructure. Reporting to the Engineering Director, the primary responsibility of the Principal Firmware Engineer / Team Lead is to develop firmware solutions for the elite sports industry.  You will be responsible for the firmware development cycle and to ensure that our products have a high level of quality.

We believe that our customers deserve to have the leading wearable technology and we are on a mission to make the most invisible wearables and enhance their performance through consistently adding new measurements that have never been possible before. Our engineers drive this ethos by making sure all of this technology comes together in a way our customers love to use.

WHAT YOU’LL DO 

• Lead a team which brings up new hardware from scratch, and develops device trees and boot chains.
• Develop Linux kernel for ARM Cortex-A hardware platforms, and wireless firmware for ARM Cortex hardware platforms.
• Lead team DevOps practices, engineering processes, and design discussions with the view of continuously lifting quality and improving.
• Drive best practices around code quality and organization throughout the entire development process and in coordination with team objectives.
• Promote innovation, lead technical strategy and architecture planning, discussion, and collaboration through documentation.
• Providing technical guidance, career development, and mentoring to team members.
• Take a player-coach approach to leadership, be a multiplier and have a passion for team and team members’ success.
• Partner with product managers to align on objectives, priorities, tradeoffs and risk.
• Ensure teams have clear priorities and adequate resources to execute on plan.
• Work in multidisciplinary teams and interface with other engineers in our team and across various disciplines to create alignment.
• Lead firmware engineering “chapters” where best practice is shared amongst other firmware engineers within the business.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• Formal qualifications in electronics or software engineering.
• At least 5-10 years of firmware development experience.
• Demonstrated experience programming with C, C++ and Python.
• Demonstrated Linux (e.g. Yocto/PetaLinux) experience including building the kernel, developing custom kernels, device trees, and developing Linux drivers.
• Demonstrated experience with common wireless communications standards and protocols, such as BLE, Wi-Fi, UWB and long range/low bit rate applications.
• Experience developing products, scaling them and supporting them throughout the entire lifecycle.
• Experience bringing up new hardware from scratch.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, organizational and time management skills.
• Experience in communicating with users, other technical teams, and product management to understand requirements, describe firmware product features, and technical designs.
• Ability to be nimble, proactive, comfortable working with minimal specifications.
• A solid understanding of what high performance looks like, and how to drive it.
• Experience with Atlassian’s platform for defect tracking and documentation is highly desired.
• Experience with Git code management is highly desired.
• Experience with Rust or a willingness to learn it is highly desirable.
• Occasionally providing technical support to customers (which may be on the weekend or after hours).

WHY CATAPULT? 

• We have amazing people. We can promise you will work with some of the most ambitious and intelligent people in an exciting industry, and you will do some of the best work of your life.
• We encourage our people to have constructive, open and honest communication in order to make Catapult extraordinary; innovate and create smart solutions; establish a collaborative, yet challenging, environment to develop our performance and the performance of our customers.
• Our workforce spans more than 20 countries, you'll have the opportunity to work across multiple nationalities and cultures, and build your global awareness and capability 
• We value improvement and development. We are challenging ourselves to continuously grow and become a high-performance company. That means we maintain a growth mindset in everything we do, and our people are always looking for ways to do things better.  There is unlimited opportunity to grow, do more, and do better.

Whether you’re interested in sports or not, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing your work is supporting some of the most successful teams and athletes on the planet! While we have access to many exciting opportunities, we also realise that we are here to do a very important job for our customers. As a result, we aim to work with purpose and intention. We look for people that can add to our team culture, those who actively contribute and individuals who are excited about what they do. 

In order to build the future of sports performance, we need the brightest talent in order to do so. If you think you can contribute to the empowering, enjoyable and exciting Catapult environment, then we invite you to apply.

Research shows that while men apply for jobs when they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other marginalized groups tend only to apply when they check every box. So if you have what it takes, but don't meet every single point in our job ad, please still get in touch! We would love to have a chat and see if you could be a great addition to our team. We are building the future of sports performance. Our priority is to find the brightest talent who can add to our team culture, actively contribute, and be excited about what they do.

All offers of employment are subject to Catapult's positive prehire check. To find out more, please contact the Talent Partner for this role