Embedded Linux SW Engineer

HARMAN’s engineers and designers are creative, purposeful and agile. As part of this team, you’ll combine your technical expertise with innovative ideas to help drive cutting-edge solutions in the car, enterprise and connected ecosystem. Every day, you will push the boundaries of creative design, and HARMAN is committed to providing you with the opportunities, innovative technologies and resources to build a successful career.

A Career at HARMAN

As a technology leader that is rapidly on the move, HARMAN is filled with people who are focused on making life better. Innovation, inclusivity and teamwork are a part of our DNA. When you add that to the challenges we take on and solve together, you’ll discover that at HARMAN you can grow, make a difference and be proud of the work you do everyday.

Introduction: A Career at HARMAN Automotive

We’re a global, multi-disciplinary team that’s putting the innovative power of technology to work and transforming tomorrow. At HARMAN Automotive, we give you the keys to fast-track your career.

• Engineer audio systems and integrated technology platforms that augment the driving experience

• Combine ingenuity, in-depth research, and a spirit of collaboration with design and engineering excellence

• Advance in-vehicle infotainment, safety, efficiency, and enjoyment

About the Role

Sr. embedded Linux SW engineer, part of the PQRS (Production & Qualification Readiness SW) team.

As an embedded Linux SW engineer, you will contribute to the creation of a lightweight Linux distribution used in HARMAN to perform low-level validation and certification of the hardware used in various automotive projects. You will be challenged to find solutions that blend both hardware and software worlds to reach an optimised and streamlined design between the systems and our internal customers’ requirements.

You will be part of an ever-growing and ever-changing platform that will continue to evolve along with the cutting-edge tech used in Automotive. The nature of our platform gives you the chance of upgrading the existing model and challenging the status quo, as our objective is to always stay in front of the pack and develop on the latest technologies.

Our beneficiaries are the main car makers around the world.

What You Will Do

Requirements management:

• Evaluate and estimate requirements from internal customers, ensuring a clear understanding of project needs.

SW development and concepts definition:

• Develop, maintain, and improve the custom Linux distribution and associated services used for hardware validation, manufacturing, and certification of infotainment systems.

• Actively contribute to defining and implementing architectural concepts in collaboration with the team, aiming to maximise the reusability of software components across projects (adopting a platform-based approach).

• Implement user-space device "drivers" based on data sheet specifications and internal interfaces for various devices populated on the project PCBs. The supported devices are of the following classes: networking devices such as switches and Ethernet controllers, video serializers and deserializers, positioning devices, audio interfaces, amplifiers and controllers.

Problem resolution:

• Analyse tickets, investigate and resolve technical issues related to the PQRS work-packages. Engage with the needed subject matter experts and the team to implement effective solutions.

• Provide support for debugging and troubleshooting issues encountered during development, qualification, manufacturing, and certification phases. Follow through until the resolution is reached.

Documentation and code review:

• Create and maintain comprehensive documentation for the PQRS deliverables, including user manuals and development guidelines.

• Conduct code reviews to ensure code quality, adherence to coding standards, and best practices.

Communication, cross-team collaboration and customer-facing:

• Effectively communicate project status, challenges, and solutions to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Collaborate with (project) managers to ensure that timelines and milestones are met.

• Work closely with PQRS consumers, ensuring that PQRS deliverables meet all the internal requirements, testware limitations and automotive industry standards/certifications.

Continuous learning, innovation, and optimisation:

• Stay updated on industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices related to automotive infotainment systems.

• Foster a culture of innovation within the team, encouraging the exploration of new technologies and methodologies.

What You Need to Be Successful

• Extensive Linux expertise (Linux device model - system level, userspace interaction with devices, boot sequence).

• Strong programming skills in the Python language

• Proven experience with Automotive products (preferably infotainment systems).

• Hands-on experience with embedded HW (Automotive SoCs, microcontrollers, serializers/deserializers, BT/WiFi chips, amplifiers, tuners, A2B chips).

• Ability to bring up domain-specific devices based on technical documentation (at least one of the following: serializers/deserializers, BT/WiFi chips, amplifiers, tuners, A2B chips)

• Knowledge of low-level concepts (e.g., familiar with kernel, BSP, communication protocols - e.g., I2C, SPI)

• Understanding of embedded hardware schematics and concepts

• 5+ years of experience as a software engineer and programming under Linux and for Linux

• Source control systems experience (preferably Git)

• Good English communication skills, both written and verbal

FAQ: Why Python for embedded development?

Our main deliverable is a custom Linux distribution for hardware validation and production, but our core contribution lies in the user-space drivers and control layers we build on top of it.

We choose Python because:

• We are working in user space, not kernel space - Python is ideal for building portable, high-level drivers and orchestration tools.

• It enables fast development, cleaner code, and easier onboarding and maintenance.

• Our SoC platforms have sufficient resources, so Python’s overhead is not a limitation.

Bonus Points if You Have

• Knowledge in the area of video-specific HW (serializers/deserializers) and video stack is highly appreciated

• Experience in building custom embedded Linux distributions (Yocto or similar)

• Good programming skills in scripting languages (Bash or similar)

• RUST enthusiast

• Familiarity with Python-based web frameworks (Django or FastAPI)

• Embedded systems hardware architecture knowledge

• Experience with Atlassian tools suite (JIRA, Confluence)

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or other relevant (IT-related) specialisations.

What Makes You Eligible

• Willingness to travel (0-20% of time), depending on the project necessities.

• Availability to work both remotely (0-2 days/week) and from the office (3-5 days/week)

What We Offer

• Flexible work environment

• Access to employee discounts on world-class Harman and Samsung products (JBL, HARMAN Kardon, AKG, etc.)

• Extensive training opportunities through our own HARMAN University

• Competitive wellness benefits

• “Be Brilliant” employee recognition and rewards program

• An inclusive and diverse work environment that fosters and encourages professional and personal development

HARMAN is proud to be an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard torace, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.