Lead Software Developer Jobs in Connecticut (NOW HIRING)

Job Summary:
ASSA ABLOY Group is a global leader in access solutions, and they are seeking a DevOps Lead for their Americas Firmware Engineering group. The role involves owning the full firmware lifecycle, leading embedded automation teams, and ensuring efficient CI/CD pipelines for embedded firmware.
Responsibilities:
• Own the GitLab CI/CD pipeline for all firmware product variants
• Manage HiL server fleet and physical test fixture infrastructure
• Oversee production firmware signing, OTA packaging, and release artifact pipeline
• Architect and standardize Robot Framework test suite
• Develop AI/agent tooling layer for CI debugging and test generation
• Lead Software Development Engineers in Test (SDET) and embedded automation teams across multiple SAFe program increments
• Define KPIs, career ladders, and onboarding paths for firmware QA and Software Development in Test (SDET) roles
• Collaborate with Firmware Architects, Product Owners, and System Architects to align test strategy with release goals
• Drive improvements in quality metrics, traceability, and feedback loop speed
• Build and maintain domain-specific Claude Code agent skills for CI debugging, test authoring, and embedded firmware analysis
• Develop MCP servers that expose CI/CD data (pipeline status, build logs, JSONL events) to AI agents
• Integrate AI tooling into team workflow without replacing engineer judgment — agents as accelerators, not oracles
• Own and improve our CI/CD pipelines for embedded firmware, ensuring fast, reliable builds and releases
• Maintain the infrastructure that supports automated testing, build execution, and artifact delivery
• Support and expand our HiL testing environment used to validate firmware across multiple device families
• Develop lightweight test fixtures and automation tools that help validate hardware behavior
• Build and maintain automated test suites covering BLE, Zigbee, OTA, and system‑level functionality
• Establish testing standards, improve test reliability, and contribute to overall product quality
• Manage the firmware release workflow, including signing, packaging, and delivering builds across environments
• Improve release traceability, versioning, and documentation
• Create internal tools and lightweight AI‑assisted workflows that help engineers debug, test, and ship faster
• Integrate automation and intelligence into everyday engineering processes to accelerate development.
Qualifications:
Required:
• 10+ years in DevOps/infrastructure engineering, with at least 5 years in embedded systems or firmware CI/CD
• Demonstrated team leadership: QA, SDET, or embedded automation engineers (3+ direct reports)
• Expert-level GitLab CI/CD: pipeline design, runner fleet management, conditional execution, artifact handling
• Robot Framework: authoring, keyword architecture, CI integration, Robocop linting
• Python 3.10+: test automation libraries, CLI tools (Typer/Rich), protocol parsers, CI scripting
• Hardware-in-the-Loop: operation and expansion of HiL (Hardware in Loop) test infrastructure with real device hardware
• Embedded protocol knowledge: BLE, Zigbee (IEEE 802.15.4 / ZCL), or UART at integration test level
• Firmware build systems: Make-based (ABS/MBS) or Bazel — understanding of cross-compilation targets
• OTA firmware update pipelines and firmware signing
• SAFe or equivalent large-scale Agile program coordination
Preferred:
• nRF52840 or STM32 target familiarity: flashing (nrfjprog, OpenOCD), debugging, SWD/JTAG
• Custom test fixture hardware design with ESP32, RP2040, or equivalent microcontrollers
• EDHOC/OSCORE embedded cryptographic protocol experience
• AI/LLM tooling: Claude Code agent authoring, MCP server development, prompt engineering
• Multi-cloud infrastructure as code: AWS, GCP, Azure, CloudFlare — Terraform
• Docker-based CI toolchain image management
• Zigbee coordinator stack: zigpy-znp, Z-Stack 3.x.0, CC2652P hardware
• Renode or Wokwi embedded simulation CI integration
Company:
ASSA ABLOY Group is a door opening solutions, dedicated to satisfying end-user needs for security, safety, and convenience. Founded in 1994, the company is headquartered in Stockholm, SWE, with a team of 10001+ employees. The company is currently Late Stage.