Head of Firmware (Hands-On)

GrowDirector | Hybrid, Rehovot | Full-time | Reports to the CEO

Position Overview

GrowDirector develops wireless, modular automation controllers for commercial greenhouses. We are seeking a Head of Firmware to assume full ownership of the company's embedded software.

The role carries full responsibility for architecture, engineering standards, and the complete device lifecycle: development, testing, manufacturing test, over-the-air deployment, and field diagnostics. As the company grows, the Head of Firmware will recruit and lead the firmware team.

The position requires a high degree of professional independence. The successful candidate will define the technical roadmap and operate without technical supervision; rigorous documentation, continuous integration, and automated test coverage are therefore core expectations and the primary means by which work is reviewed.

Responsibilities

–  Own the ESP32 / FreeRTOS codebase (C/C++), including its staged modernization: refactoring and rewriting modules incrementally behind an automated test suite

–  Develop and maintain device connectivity: WiFi provisioning and reliability, TCP/IP, MQTT/HTTP, and peer-to-peer module communication

–  Design and operate a safe, recoverable FOTA (firmware-over-the-air) update pipeline for remotely deployed devices

–  Integrate sensors and actuators over I2C, SPI, UART, and RS485

–  Design and build automated test equipment (ATE) for production and regression testing

–  Establish release engineering practices: versioning, CI, branching strategy, field diagnostics, and documentation

Requirements

–  7+ years of embedded C/C++ development on microcontrollers, including production firmware shipped and maintained in the field

–  Production experience with ESP32 or a comparable WiFi SoC in commercially deployed products

–  FreeRTOS in production environments: tasks, queues, timers, and debugging of race conditions and memory issues

–  Strong networking background: TCP/IP, WiFi reliability in challenging RF environments, and OTA updates operating on deployed fleets

–  Hardware proficiency: I2C, SPI, UART, RS485; working knowledge of oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and schematics

–  Experience building automated tests or ATE for embedded systems, with disciplined documentation practices

–  Demonstrated ability to own a product area end to end without technical management

Advantages

–  ESP-IDF (beyond the Arduino framework); PlatformIO

–  Modbus RTU over RS485

–  ESP-NOW, WiFi mesh, or other peer-to-peer protocols

–  Manufacturing test experience: jigs, fixtures, end-of-line testers

–  Hardware bring-up and ECO collaboration with electrical engineering

–  Experience in agricultural, industrial, or other harsh-environment IoT