Director, System Software and Firmware Engineering

Director, Engineering — System Software & Firmware

Location:

San Mateo, CA, USA

Travel:
Up to 20% international

• Lead and grow a global organization accountable for system software and firmware within the Play Station Product Development organization.
• Own the technical strategy and multi-year roadmap for:
• System Software (device drivers and low-level system utilities/SDKs) across PS5, Play Station Portal, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
• Firmware running on SoCs/microcontrollers, typically in minimal/no-OS environments.
• Drive software system architecture, build reviews, and technical decisions that balance performance, power, latency, reliability, security, and manufacturability.
• Deliver end-to-end execution from early prototypes through production and post-launch sustainment, in close partnership with hardware engineering, ecosystem engineering, program management, operations, QA, product, and security.
• Lead the Play Station Link technology roadmap and delivery, including partner requirements, integration strategy, validation, and ecosystem enablement.
• Establish and maintain strong operating mechanisms (planning, metrics, quality targets, risk management, release readiness, blocking issues).
• Communicate clearly and influence effectively across globally distributed teams and executive collaborators.
• Hire, mentor, and develop engineering leaders; build a culture of accountability, technical excellence, and collaboration.

• 10+ years of engineering experience with deep expertise in system software, embedded systems, firmware, or platform engineering.
• 5+ years of people leadership experience managing managers and/or multi-team internal+external organizations, including hiring and org scaling.
• Demonstrated experience shipping products with tight hardware/software integration from bring-up through high-volume production.
• Proven ability to lead architecture and technical direction without being hands-on coding day-to-day.
• Strong cross-functional leadership skills and experience driving alignment across teams in different locations/time zones.
• Experience collaborating with external partners to deliver coordinated technology and high-quality outcomes.
• Excellent communication skills (written, verbal, and executive-level).

• Experience with high-volume consumer electronics (consoles, portables, accessories/peripherals, audio/input devices).
• Familiarity with SoCs, embedded boot flows, secure update concepts, and low-level debugging.
• Cross-platform low-level experience on Linux/BSD/Windows/macOS/iOS/Android (drivers, services, privileged utilities).
• Background in short-range wireless connectivity technologies and/or partner ecosystem certification programs.

• This role is based in San Mateo, California and reports directly to the VP of Product Development (also San Mateo based).
• Up to 25% international travel is encouraged.
• The Director will be encouraged to build and lead a distributed team.

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including color, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, birthing parent or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.

We strive to build an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.

Play Station is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.

Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about how we process your personal information, and your data protection rights.

The estimated base pay range for this role is listed below.

$279,000 — $418,400 USD

Please note, Sony Interactive Entertainment conducts background checks at the offer stage for all new employees (which may include criminal background checks for some roles) and will need to process personal information to support these checks.

Equal Opportunity Statement:

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.