Engineering Manager II

Samsara is the pioneer of the Connected Operations™ Cloud, enabling organizations to harness IoT data for improved operations. The Engineering Manager II will lead a Platform Firmware team focused on developing new hardware programs and ensuring high-quality delivery through effective management and cross-functional collaboration.

Responsibilities:

• Own the execution pipeline for new hardware programs with external design, manufacturing, and silicon partners, including milestone planning, validation readiness, quality gates, partner escalations, and delivery risks
• Manage and develop a team of firmware engineers working on platform firmware that enables Samsara's next-generation hardware products
• Drive coordination across firmware, hardware engineering, product, quality engineering, field engineering, and external partners to resolve hardware and firmware integration issues
• Build a predictable operating cadence for partner communication, technical triage, schedule tradeoffs, risk reporting, and leadership escalation
• Define and improve the long-term technical and execution strategy for partner-driven hardware programs, making each program more predictable, efficient, and scalable
• Champion, role model, and embed Samsara’s cultural principles (Focus on Customer Success, Build for the Long Term, Adopt a Growth Mindset, Be Inclusive, Win as a Team) as we scale globally and across new offices

Requirements:

• 8+ years of relevant software, firmware, embedded systems, or hardware-adjacent engineering experience
• 3+ years of people management experience leading firmware, embedded, platform, hardware, or hardware-adjacent engineering teams
• Experience working with external technical partners such as JDMs, ODMs, contract manufacturers, silicon vendors, or hardware vendors
• Experience delivering new hardware, firmware, embedded systems, or hardware-adjacent programs from prototype through production readiness
• Strong understanding of firmware development, hardware bring-up, validation, release quality, and cross-functional delivery
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to provide clear status, frame tradeoffs, and escalate risks with data
• Ability to work effectively with product, hardware, quality, field, manufacturing, and engineering leadership stakeholders
• Experience with EVT, DVT, PVT, MP, or similar hardware development milestones
• Experience managing firmware programs involving Linux, BSPs, device drivers, bootloaders, wireless modules, power management, or embedded platform software
• Experience working with globally distributed design, manufacturing, or silicon partners
• Experience balancing speed, quality, customer impact, and long-term platform reliability in hardware programs
• Experience improving team execution through AI-assisted engineering tools, automation, or developer productivity workflows
• A product-driven mindset with strong customer empathy and persistent follow-through