Willow Innovations, Inc.
Sr Director of Engineering (EE, Firmware, Software & Cloud)
Be an Early Applicant
Leads and architects a multidisciplinary engineering organization spanning electrical, firmware, mobile, software, and cloud systems. Provides hands-on technical leadership in system architecture, design reviews, troubleshooting, quality standards, and secure development. Recruits and mentors engineering teams, manages external vendors and manufacturers, oversees budgets and deliverables, and partners with product, quality, regulatory, and operations teams to deliver reliable connected healthcare products from development through mass production.
Willow is a platform for products that help improve the lives and health of women. We are a mission-driven team of experienced inventors, mothers, and fathers dedicated to making a difference in women’s lives. The Willow™ Wearable Breast Pump, selected as one of TIME's 25 Best Inventions in 2017 and 2018 CES Innovation Award for Wearable Technologies, is the first solution in our platform.
Willow is seeking a Senior Director of Engineering to lead, scale, and architect our multi-disciplinary engineering organization spanning Electrical Engineering (EE), Embedded Firmware, Cloud Infrastructure, and Mobile/Software Applications.
In this role, you will be the primary technical bridge connecting physical hardware to our cloud and mobile ecosystem. You will balance strategic leadership with hands-on technical execution, diving deep into system architecture, design reviews, and technical problem-solving alongside your teams. You will manage a hybrid delivery model—leading in-house engineering leads while orchestrating external design houses, contract manufacturers (CMs), and outsourced software teams to bring high-reliability, connected healthcare products to market.
Key ResponsibilitiesTechnical Leadership & Hands-On Engineering
- Act as the chief technical authority across Willow’s end-to-end stack: Electrical Engineering (PCBA design, power management, sensors), Firmware (RTOS, low-power BLE), Software (iOS/Android), and Cloud (AWS/GCP, APIs, analytics).
- Remain actively engaged in technical execution: drive system-level architecture, lead design reviews (schematics, layout, firmware architecture, API design), and jump in to troubleshoot complex technical bottlenecks.
- Define and enforce technical standards, code quality metrics, hardware test procedures, and secure software development lifecycles (SDLC).
- Manage, recruit, and mentor a high-performing, multi-disciplinary engineering team across EE, firmware, cloud, and mobile disciplines.
- Build a culture of accountability, innovation, technical rigor, and cross-functional collaboration.
- Establish career paths, performance management, and continuous learning programs for engineering staff.
- Direct and manage external development partners, offshore software agencies, specialized design houses, and hardware manufacturing partners (JDM/ODM/CM).
- Negotiate statements of work (SOWs), manage vendor budgets, track technical deliverables, and ensure external code/hardware designs meet internal standards.
- Establish clear handoff protocols between external development partners and internal sustaining/operations teams.
- Partner closely with Product Management, Quality Assurance, Regulatory Affairs, and Operations to translate product requirements into executable technical roadmaps and project timelines.
- Ensure engineering practices comply with relevant regulatory requirements (e.g., FDA medical device software controls, ISO 13485, IEC 60601, HIPAA, and data privacy standards).
- Balance technical debt, performance, cost of goods sold (COGS), feature velocity, and product reliability.
QualificationsRequired Experience & Technical Depth
- Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
- Experience: 12+ years of progressive engineering experience in connected consumer hardware, IoT, or medical devices, with at least 5+ years in engineering leadership (Director level or above).
- Multi-Domain Mastery: Demonstrated technical depth across all four required core domains:
- Electrical Engineering: Mixed-signal PCB design, low-power battery management, sensor integration, BLE design, and RF compliance.
- Firmware: Embedded C/C++, RTOS, microcontroller architectures (e.g., Nordic, STM32), and low-level communication protocols (I2C, SPI, UART).
- Software & Cloud: Mobile application architecture (iOS/Android), cloud platforms (AWS/GCP), microservices, RESTful APIs, and IoT device management.
- Hands-On Capability: Proven ability to remain technical—able to read schematics, evaluate codebases, review system interfaces, and guide architectural decisions without relying solely on delegated oversight.
- Vendor Management: Deep experience managing third-party engineering vendors, offshore development teams, and contract manufacturers through full product lifecycles (NPI through mass production).
- Experience in regulated medical devices (FDA 510(k), IEC 62304 software lifecycle) or high-reliability consumer health technologies.
- Proven track record of delivering successful, high-volume consumer IoT products from concept through mass manufacturing.
- Familiarity with data security, encryption standards for connected hardware, and healthcare privacy compliance (HIPAA/GDPR).
Willow is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunities regardless of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, disability, or Veteran status.
Willow Innovations, Inc. Mountain View, California, USA Office
1975 W El Camino Real, Mountain View, California , United States, 94040
Similar Jobs
Artificial Intelligence • Consumer Web • Digital Media • Information Technology • Social Impact • Software
Build and own evaluation infrastructure, observability tooling, datasets, annotation workflows, and diagnostic systems for production AI agents. Lead experiments across prompts, models, routing, caching, cost, and latency. Diagnose failures across planning, tool use, and agent execution, while partnering with AI Core engineering. Manage and grow the AI Quality team as a hands-on player-coach, contributing directly to production code and technical direction.
Top Skills:
Ai AgentsAnnotation WorkflowsBraintrustCachingCi/CdEvaluation FrameworksLangsmithLlmsModel RoutingObservability ToolingPythonRuby On Rails
Aerospace • Artificial Intelligence • Machine Learning • Robotics • Software • Defense Technology
Owns military and SkillBridge recruiting programs from intake through conversion. Responsibilities include managing eligibility, matching fellows to teams, coordinating compliant onboarding with HR, Legal, and Security, converting fellows to full-time employees, translating military qualifications into civilian role fit, building veteran talent partnerships, representing the company at military hiring events, and tracking recruiting pipeline and conversion metrics.
Top Skills:
Applicant Tracking System (Ats)EarItar
Events • Food • Travel • Hospitality • Hotels & Resorts
Manages group hotel sales from prospecting through account fulfillment. Responsibilities include generating new business, building client relationships, conducting site visits, negotiating contracts, creating strategic sales plans, analyzing performance, and coordinating event delivery across departments. The role also supervises, coaches, and supports sales team members while pursuing revenue and room-night goals.
What you need to know about the San Francisco Tech Scene
San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area attracts more startup funding than any other region in the world. Home to Stanford University and UC Berkeley, leading VC firms and several of the world’s most valuable companies, the Bay Area is the place to go for anyone looking to make it big in the tech industry. That said, San Francisco has a lot to offer beyond technology thanks to a thriving art and music scene, excellent food and a short drive to several of the country’s most beautiful recreational areas.
Key Facts About San Francisco Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 365,500; 13.9% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Google, Apple, Salesforce, Meta
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, fintech, consumer technology, software
- Funding Landscape: $50.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins
- Research Centers and Universities: Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of San Francisco; Santa Clara University; Ames Research Center; Center for AI Safety; California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
