Senior Firmware Engineer – Embedded Control Systems R&D Equipment Development

In December 2018, Lavazza acquired the Mars Drinks coffee business from Mars, Incorporated gaining a presence in the business-to-business space. Hence, the Lavazza Professional division/name was born.  Lavazza Professional is comprised of the KLIX® vending systems and FLAVIA® brewing systems—two leading brands in the Vending and Office Coffee Service (OCS) segments, respectively.  With a goal to create great tasting moments at work, Lavazza Professional is 100% dedicated to the workplace, creating new and inspiring ways to help people come together to achieve great results.

THE JOB

Software for Lavazza Professional products covers a wide range of domains and technologies deployed in embedded real time solutions for our global drink beverage machine range. This role requires a technical savvy and skilled embedded control software/firmware designer to focus on the design and development of software solutions for our embedded machine micro-controllers. These controllers are at the heart of our systems which are renowned for class leading quality and reliability.

Working as part of a product development team, the role requires a close working relationship with mechanical and electronics engineers as well as wider multidiscipline project teams. The individual in this role will be required to be the project control system software lead, able to propose, define, design and deploy high quality fault tolerant control system solutions.

As the control system software lead, the role requires a very close working relationship with electronics developers, mechatronic designers and software engineers. Software project teams will be a mixture of internal and external developers. The individual in this role is required to be a “player manager”, both as an individual contributor as well as managing the project software delivery teams. This role requires a high degree of self-motivation, the ability to be a self-starter, and a strong team player.

 KEY OUTPUTS

• MANAGEMENT OF DESIGN TEAMS: Lead and coordinate software design teams, including internal and external partners and consultants to ensure complete and timely delivery of proven software solutions.

• SYSTEMS DESIGN: Responsible for conceiving, defining, planning, and implementing embedded real time control system software designs for existing and new Mars Drinks equipment (brewers and vending machines). Key contributor and consultant to the Electronics design team for the selection and specification of micro-controller choices. Key contributor and consultant to the mechatronic teams for the specification and design of control mechanisms and water systems.

• DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION: Be a key contributor to the design, development, delivery and maintenance of control software/firmware.

• HARNESS EXTERNAL EXPERTISE: Identify and build relationships with technology and service suppliers to support current and future products or projects.

• DRIVER FOR QUALITY: Apply software testing, verification, and validation tools to ensure best possible quality for the software and the system it controls. Evaluate and approve the software solutions delivered by external partners.

• WORK WITH CROSS DISCIPLINE PROJECT TEAMS: Consult and work collaboratively as part of a multi-disciplinary product development team, translating needs into realizable goals, and clearly reporting progress to project managers and key stakeholders as needed.

• TOOL CHAIN MANAGEMENT: Specify, deploy, and maintain appropriate tool chains for software development and software maintenance that enable rapid project development.

 QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES

• QUALIFICATIONS: Honours Degree in Computing, Software, Electronics or Physical engineering related subject.

• DESIGN EXPERIENCE: Broad experience designing embedded software control systems that integrate electrical/electronic and mechanical systems. Proven experience in putting control theory into practice. Experience in the control of motors, actuators, and thermal devices including PID and PWM control. Comfortable working at a data sheet level, selecting/specifying microcontrollers and intelligent ICs. Experience of interfacing to a wide and diverse range of devices using industry standard protocols SPI, SCI, IIC, 232, 485. Experience of designing for and managing digital and analogue signals. Knowledge of Renesas and Freescale processors an advantage.

• PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES AND TOOLS: Expert level of competence in Embedded Structured ANSI-C / C++. Experience of OOD C++ and C# an advantage. Expert competence in PC based embedded workbench applications including Visual Studio and IAR EW.

• TEAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Knowledge and experience leading project teams, including multidiscipline teams, both at a functional, as well as at a project level, managing internal and external resources.