Manager, Firmware Engineering (Mount Waverley) - Medical Devices - R&D - C++ required

• Make a real impact by contributing to technologies that advance cancer diagnosis and improve patient outcomes.

• On-site role based in Mount Waverley, Melbourne.

• Leadership + hands-on role combining people management, delivery/project ownership, and active technical contribution.

• Shape the future of firmware engineering by building, evolving, and embedding best-practice standards across the organisation.

• Collaborative and dynamic environment with daily cross-functional engagement across experienced electronics, hardware, systems engineering, quality, and regulatory teams.

• Ideal for an experienced firmware leader with strong hands-on C++ expertise in highly regulated environments (medical devices, automotive, aerospace/defence), proven team leadership, excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, and the ability to make pragmatic decisions, influence outcomes, and drive accountability in complex environments.

• Long-term career growth with clear development pathways across the Danaher brands.

Leica Biosystems’ mission of “Advancing Cancer Diagnostics, Improving Lives” is at the heart of our corporate culture. We’re a global leader in cancer diagnostics with the most comprehensive portfolio from biopsy to diagnosis. Our easy-to-use and consistently reliable offerings help improve workflow efficiency and diagnostic confidence. Our associates know that every moment matters when it comes to cancer diagnostics. When you come to work, you’re helping develop solutions that enable accurate diagnoses to turn anxiety into answers. Join our diverse, global team of talented people, and be inspired to grow every day.

Leica Biosystems is proud to work alongside a community of six fellow Diagnostics Companies at Danaher. Together, we’re working at the pace of change to improve patient lives with diagnostic tools that address the world’s biggest health challenges. 

The Manager, Firmware Engineering leads the team responsible for designing, developing, and sustaining embedded firmware for Leica Biosystems medical device instruments. This role has end-to-end ownership of key subsystems within our products. As a hands-on leader, you will contribute to the specification, design, delivery, support, and evolution of these subsystems throughout their life cycle, actively participating in coding and technical problem-solving alongside your team.

Location: This position reports to the Director, R&D Software Engineering and is part of the R&D department located in Mt Waverley, VIC and will be an on-site role.  

In this role, you will have the opportunity to:

• Own the end-to-end delivery, performance, and evolution of embedded firmware subsystems, ensuring solutions deliver measurable value using agile principles.
• Lead by example actively contributing to specification, design, coding, testing, and problem-solving alongside your team.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams—including hardware, software, systems, product, and quality—to align on requirements, strategy, timing, and roadmap.
• Define, communicate, and gain consensus for clear goals, plans, and roadmaps for your team, aligned with broader organizational strategy and priorities, including making data-driven decisions to move projects forward.
• Manage resource allocation, project schedules, budget, and programmatic risk to achieve delivery commitments and support ongoing product lifecycle needs.
• Foster technical excellence and continuous improvement through code reviews, retrospectives and adoption of industry best practices.
• Build and develop a high-performing team through mentoring, professional development, and effective people management, ensuring engagement and growth.

The essential requirements of the job include:

• Bachelor or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in software and firmware development.
• Minimum 3 years of experience leading engineering teams.
• Expert-level proficiency in C++ for microcontrollers (e.g., STM32) in embedded and real-time operating systems (RTOS).
• Expertise in the full Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) with agile methodologies.
• Experienced in automated verification.
• Experienced in writing and reviewing impactful technical documentation.
• Strong communicator, with strong stakeholder management skills; influential communicator, comfortable navigating ambiguity; pragmatic decision maker who drives accountability.

It would be a plus if you also possess previous experience in:

• Experience in regulated environments (e.g., medical devices – IEC 62304, automotive, aerospace).
• Expertise in systems engineering (e.g., INCOSE) and requirements analysis (e.g EARS).
• Expertise in DevSecOps, including establishing Infrastructure as Code (IaC) build pipelines.

Join our winning team today. Together, we’ll accelerate the real-life impact of tomorrow’s science and technology. We partner with customers across the globe to help them solve their most complex challenges, architecting solutions that bring the power of science to life.

For more information, visit www.danaher.com.