About the role:

Samsara is looking for an Engineering Manager II to lead a Platform Firmware team focused on new hardware programs and partner execution. This team works at the intersection of firmware, hardware, quality engineering, product, field engineering, and external technical partners to bring new connected operations devices from early bring-up through production readiness.

In this role, you will own the execution pipeline for partner-driven hardware programs, including milestone planning, validation readiness, quality gates, escalation paths, and cross-functional delivery. You will lead a team of firmware engineers and build the operating cadence, relationships, and technical strategy needed to ship high-quality hardware programs at scale.

This is a remote position open to candidates residing in the US. Relocation assistance will not be provided for this role.

You should apply if:

• You want to impact the industries that run our world: The software, firmware, and hardware you build will result in real-world impact – helping to keep the lights on, get food into grocery stores, and most importantly, ensure workers return home safely.
• You want to build for scale: With over 2.3 million IoT devices deployed to our global customers, you will work on a range of new and mature technologies driving scalable innovation for customers across industries driving the world's physical operations.
• You are a life-long learner: We have ambitious goals. Every Samsarian has a growth mindset as we work with a wide range of technologies, challenges, and customers that push us to learn on the go.
• You believe customers are more than a number: Samsara engineers enjoy a rare closeness to the end user and you will have the opportunity to participate in customer interviews, collaborate with customer success and product managers, and use metrics to ensure our work is translating into better customer outcomes.
• You are a team player: Working on our Samsara Engineering teams requires a mix of independent effort and collaboration. Motivated by our mission, we’re all racing toward our connected operations vision, and we intend to win – together.

In this role, you will:

• Own the execution pipeline for new hardware programs with external design, manufacturing, and silicon partners, including milestone planning, validation readiness, quality gates, partner escalations, and delivery risks.
• Manage and develop a team of firmware engineers working on platform firmware that enables Samsara's next-generation hardware products.
• Drive coordination across firmware, hardware engineering, product, quality engineering, field engineering, and external partners to resolve hardware and firmware integration issues.
• Build a predictable operating cadence for partner communication, technical triage, schedule tradeoffs, risk reporting, and leadership escalation.
• Define and improve the long-term technical and execution strategy for partner-driven hardware programs, making each program more predictable, efficient, and scalable.
• Champion, role model, and embed Samsara’s cultural principles (Focus on Customer Success, Build for the Long Term, Adopt a Growth Mindset, Be Inclusive, Win as a Team) as we scale globally and across new offices.

Minimum requirements for the role:

• 8+ years of relevant software, firmware, embedded systems, or hardware-adjacent engineering experience.
• 3+ years of people management experience leading firmware, embedded, platform, hardware, or hardware-adjacent engineering teams.
• Experience working with external technical partners such as JDMs, ODMs, contract manufacturers, silicon vendors, or hardware vendors.
• Experience delivering new hardware, firmware, embedded systems, or hardware-adjacent programs from prototype through production readiness.
• Strong understanding of firmware development, hardware bring-up, validation, release quality, and cross-functional delivery.
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to provide clear status, frame tradeoffs, and escalate risks with data.
• Ability to work effectively with product, hardware, quality, field, manufacturing, and engineering leadership stakeholders.

An ideal candidate also has:

• Experience with EVT, DVT, PVT, MP, or similar hardware development milestones.
• Experience managing firmware programs involving Linux, BSPs, device drivers, bootloaders, wireless modules, power management, or embedded platform software.
• Experience working with globally distributed design, manufacturing, or silicon partners.
• Experience balancing speed, quality, customer impact, and long-term platform reliability in hardware programs.
• Experience improving team execution through AI-assisted engineering tools, automation, or developer productivity workflows.
• A product-driven mindset with strong customer empathy and persistent follow-through.