Lead Device Software Engineer
Sauron SystemsSan FranciscoPosted 24 April 2026
Job Description
Who We Are
Sauron protects your family and home, bringing the innovations of autonomous robots and self-driving cars to residential security. Our team is led by veteran operators and engineers, alumni of Sonos, Paypal, Tesla, Apple, and Google. Sauron has raised an $27M seed round led by A* and Atomic with participation from other leading venture capital firms.
The Role
Sauron is creating a new modality for homeowners to interact with their properties and security systems—anchored by a high-fidelity 3D model of the home in a beautiful iPad and iPhone app, and powered by intelligent devices at the edge. We’re looking for a highly technical, thoughtful, and collaborative Lead Device Software Engineer to build the platform that connects on-prem devices, edge compute, and cloud services into a cohesive, safe, and reliable system. This is a senior, hands on position.
What You Will Do
Develop from scratch and maintain embedded Linux platforms, from BSP to application level.
Work with electrical, mechanical, perception/ML, backend, and mobile teams to define architectures for new on-device software.
Build and maintain embedded software that interface with sensors, cameras, and motors.
Drive features end-to-end through the full software lifecycle: design, implementation, validation, and production rollout.
Build and improve embedded build systems, CI/CD, and automated test environments; plan and execute test procedures across unit, HIL, and on-device validation.
Root-cause and resolve issues using remote fleet diagnostics, telemetry, and local hardware test platforms; define logging and observability standards.
Who You Are
8+ years of professional experience developing device software for hardware products with experience shipping multiple consumer products end to end.
Experience with Linux on embedded/constrained systems, such as Yocto, or AOSP.
Experience writing C/C++ for Linux, FreeRTOS, and bare-metal systems.
Demonstrated ability to write multi-threaded, highly reliable code.
Strong grasp of software lifecycle best practices: code reviews, version control, unit/integration testing, CI, and on-hardware validation.
Understanding of the manufacturing process, including device testing, validation, calibration and fusing.
Nice to Have
Ideally been a past team lead or manager
Experience building custom embedded Linux distributions with Yocto
Experience with ARM Trustzone, and OP-TEE
Experience with FreeRTOS
Background contributing to or growing high-performance software teams.
We Value
1. The Power of "We": “Align, then Accelerate”
We celebrate as a team and troubleshoot as a team.
The goal is the mission, not the credit.
2. High Challenge, Low Ego: "Respect the person, debate the idea."
Be ruthless with problems, but kind to people.
Raise the bar, lower the shield
3. Speak up: "Silence is a setback."
Your perspective is a requirement, not a suggestion.
Speak the hard truths early so we can fix them fast.
4. Integrity in Motion: "Own the outcome, not just the task."
Do what you say you’ll do.
If it breaks, fix it. If it works, make it better.
5. Humanity at the Core: "Relationships over transactions."
Earn trust through empathy and consistency.
Anticipate needs before they become requests.
The compensation range for this position is $210-250k base + equity + benefits.
We are focused on building a diverse and inclusive workforce. If you’re excited about this role, but do not meet 100% of the qualifications listed above, we encourage you to apply.
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Sauron is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetics or any other basis forbidden under federal, state, or local law.
Please review our CCPA policies here .
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