R&D Platform Manager​/Hardware Platform Team Lead

R&D Platform Manager / Hardware Platform Team Lead Role Overview

Our client is an expert in building ANPR cameras for multiple purposes, ranging from civil security, speed enforcement and car park applications, both for the UK and international markets.

The Hardware Platform team is a multi-disciplinary team consisting of Electrical, Mechanical, Firmware and Embedded Engineers. They deliver custom hardware platforms in line with product and customer requirements, owning the end‑to‑end hardware design from electrical design to operating system and board support packages.

You will work closely with the Software, Algorithms/ML and Systems teams within R&D, forming a small group of ~20 Engineers responsible for all aspects related to ANPR cameras, from conception to software and algorithms. You will also work in partnership with Product Management, Procurement and Manufacturing to ensure overall system delivery.

• Lead a team of experienced Engineers, with team leadership and line management responsibilities.
• Collaborate with Senior Management, Product and Project Management to define product roadmaps and allocate resources.
• Manage the team’s priorities and ensure work is delivered on schedule.
• Use technical expertise to manage the overall OS and board support package of the hardware platforms, including hardware bring‑up, boot chain development, Linux kernel hacking, device driver development, distribution building, and more.
• Work with key business stakeholders to define roadmaps and plan work for the team.
• Provide technical leadership in embedded Linux, including driver development, device trees, pinmux, Yocto and Buildroot, core Linux components, boot process (UEFI, U‑Boot, initrd).
• Collaborate on system bring‑up and hardware integration, and support suppliers and third parties.

• Strong management and leadership skills; at least two years of experience leading and managing a team.
• Ability to take ownership of the full feature life cycle: understand requirements, design solutions, deliver product (design, implement, test).
• Ability to work autonomously and as a team player, contributing to product development within timelines while exploring novel solutions.
• Extensive programming in C/C++ and shell scripting.
• Experience with Linux kernel device drivers (V4L2, I2C, SPI, UART, etc.)—developing, porting, debugging upstream drivers.
• Experience developing device trees and pinmux configurations.
• Experience building and developing custom Linux distributions using Yocto; authoring/maintaining meta layers, recipes, bbclasses.
• Experience with Buildroot system builds.
• Knowledge of core Linux system components: process management, logging, networking, graphics stack, etc.
• Knowledge of early‑stage boot process, UEFI, U‑Boot, initrd scripts.
• Experience in system bring‑up and hardware integration.
• Basic electronics knowledge; navigating datasheets and schematics.
• Comfortable liaising with suppliers and third parties.
• Knowledge of networking hardware: 4G/5G modems, Wi‑Fi 5/6, and other RF technologies.
• Experience with network software stacks:
  Modem Manager, Network Manager, IPsec, VPN, IPTables.
• Experience with A/B symmetric update processes.
• Experience with Python.
• Experience with CI/CD and automated testing.
• Experience developing software/firmware for microcontrollers and familiarity with RTOS.
• Experience using the Atlassian suite:
  Jira and Confluence.
• Knowledge of software version control using Git and SVN.