Prpl/Open WRT Specialist

An experienced professional having relevant skills, work experience and deep technical expertise in OpenWRT and/or Prpl Foundation technologies. The ideal candidate will be a hands-on embedded networking professional with a strong track record in developing, integrating, and maintaining broadband and wireless solutions on open-source platforms such as OpenWRT, preferably aligned with Prpl standards. This role involves close collaboration with platform, hardware, and cloud teams to deliver scalable, secure, and standards-compliant networking solutions for carrier-grade devices and lead a team or have ownership for a project component.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop, integrate, and maintain networking stacks using OpenWRT/PrplOS for CPE and broadband gateway devices including Wi-Fi, Low-Level APIs and SoC integration.
• Customize and optimize OpenWRT builds for target hardware platforms (e.g., MIPS/ARM-based SoCs).
• Implement and test Prpl Foundation initiatives, including PrplOS, PrplMesh, PrplSecurity, and containerization support.
• Driving technical discussions with customers by interfacing with silicon vendors, ODMs, and other technology partners for BSP integration and feature enablement.
• Contribute to architecture and system design discussions for scalable and modular firmware.
• Lead or support feature development, bug fixing, and performance tuning across multiple networking layers (e.g., Wi-Fi, Ethernet, routing, firewall, TR-069/TR-369).
• Participate in open-source communities, contribute patches, and ensure compliance with licensing (e.g., GPL, BSD).
• Manage project environments including build, review and debugging, configuration management, and CI/CD pipelines for firmware release cycles.
• Understanding project requirements and breaking it down to tasks and sub tasks
• Assign tasks to team members, track and monitor progress, perform code reviews and mentor junior team members.
• Lead teams, drive scrum meetings and enable team to be productive.

Qualifications:

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in embedded systems development, with at least 3+ years on OpenWRT or Prpl-based platforms.
• Strong proficiency in C, shell scripting, and Linux-based embedded development.
• Proven experience with networking protocols: 802.11, IPv4/IPv6, NAT, DNS, DHCP, VLAN, QoS.
• Familiarity with Prpl Foundation initiatives like PrplOS, PrplMesh, and LXC/Docker support on embedded devices.
• Experience with wireless driver integration, MAC/PHY layer debugging, and Wi-Fi mesh solutions.
• Exposure to management protocols such as TR-069, TR-369 (USP), SNMP, and cloud-based CPE management.
• Familiarity with Yocto, Buildroot, or custom OpenWRT build systems.
• Hands-on with tools such as Wireshark, U-Boot, JTAG, and gdb.
• Experience with Git, Jenkins, JIRA, and Agile methodologies.

Personal Attributes

• Excellent Communication Skills (Written, Verbal & Customer Presentation)
• Excellent Analytical Skills (Business Requirements & Technical Solutions)
• Project and Resource Management Skills
• Estimation, Schedule and Cost Management Skills
• Negotiation & Collaborative Skills.

Credentials Certifications (Preferred)

• Contributions to OpenWRT, PrplMesh, or related open-source projects.
• Experience working in broadband/ISP environments or with Tier-1 OEMs/ODMs.
• Familiarity with hardware bring-up and device tree configuration.
• Understanding of security frameworks and best practices for secure firmware development.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electronics, Computer Science, or related field.