Lead Firmware Engineer

About Us:

The world is entering a new era - one where Humans, AI, and Machines will coexist in ways we have only imagined. Project Mirage is a Bangalore based startup with a 20-member team of Engineers and Designers who have built at Ultrahuman and Nokia before. We are backed by top tier VCs from India & the U.S. and we are developing the next generation of Consumer Hardware products powered by AI to transform how humans do every day-to-day task.

Key Responsibilities

1. Technical Ownership & Architecture

Own the firmware architecture for a Qualcomm-based Bluetooth audio (QCC51xx / QCC30xx / QCC5/3 family).

Design and implement low-power, always-connected firmware for:

Bluetooth BR/EDR and BLE, audio profiles, and connection management

Define patterns for OTA/DFU, fault handling, logging, metrics, and diagnostics for field devices.

2. Delivery & Execution

Translate product requirements into a firmware roadmap with clear milestones and releases.

Lead board bring-up for new hardware revisions: boot, clocks, power, flash, GPIO, and peripherals (SPI, IC, UART, etc.).

3. Team Leadership & Processes

Build and lead a small, high-performing firmware team (hiring, mentoring, feedback).

Ensure solid documentation: architecture overviews, bring-up guides, debug playbooks, and test plans. CI/CD for firmware builds and automated regression testing.

4. Cross-Functional Collaboration

Work closely with:

Hardware / RF on schematics, pin assignments, power tree, and design-for-test.

Mechanical / ID to respect constraints that affect antennas, sensors.

Mobile app teams to define BLE services, data models, state machines, and OTA upgrade flows.

Product & UX to balance user experience with constraints of power, size, and compute.

5. Quality, Reliability & Manufacturing

Define test strategy across:

Board bring-up, feature testing, and regression suites

Long-run reliability (burn-in, stress, battery and connectivity tests)

Factory and production-line test flows (special test firmware, fixtures, scripts).

Lead root-cause analysis for field issues and ensure fixes propagate quickly and safely.

Ensure security best practices (secure boot, signed images, restricted debug access).

6.Must-Have Qualifications

Direct hands-on experience with Qualcomm Bluetooth audio SoCs (QCC51xx / QCC30xx / QCC5/3 family) across at least one full product cycle (prototype mass production). This is the primary requirement.

10+ years of embedded firmware experience, with 3+ years leading teams or major projects.

Excellent communication skills and comfort representing firmware in cross-functional discussions and with leadership.

Exposure to audio DSP pipelines, ANC, beamforming, or collaboration with DSP engineers is a bonus.