Innovation Engineer – Software & Applications

Job Title: Innovation Engineer – Software & Applications
Location: Shannon, Co. Clare, Ireland
Reports To: CTO
Job Type: Full-Time, Permanent, Onsite

The Opportunity

Ei Electronics is a top three global brand in smoke and carbon monoxide sensing with a growing base of connected products and environmental sensing technology.

We are now asking ourselves what the next generation of life-safety technology will look like and investing deeply in frontier innovation. We want to explore that question by building, experimenting and turning new ideas into working technology.

We are looking for an ambitious and curious Applications Engineer to join our new Global Innovation Centre in Shannon. This is not a conventional software development role focused on maintaining existing applications or delivering incremental changes. It is an opportunity to work at the very early stages of innovation — exploring emerging technologies, developing prototypes and creating new digital capabilities that could shape the future of technology within the home.

You could be building a backend to collect data from a new sensor one week, developing a dashboard to turn that data into useful insights the next, and experimenting with AI, cloud technologies or a completely new user-facing application after that.

Some ideas will develop into future Ei products and services. Others may prove that a particular technology or approach doesn’t work. Both are part of innovation. We are looking for someone who enjoys building software, experimenting with technology and turning data and ideas into something people can actually use. The effective use of modern AI development tools will be a core part of this role, enabling ideas to be developed, tested and demonstrated much faster than through conventional development approaches.

Key Responsibilities

You will work within Ei’s Innovation Centre on early-stage connected technologies and concepts, taking ideas from initial investigation through to functional prototypes and proof-of-concept systems.

Your work will include:

• Exploring emerging software, IoT and connected technologies that could create new opportunities in life safety, sensing and the connected home.
• Developing backend services and systems to collect, process, store and analyse data from products, sensors and connected devices.
• Designing APIs and interfaces between connected products, cloud services and user-facing applications.
• Developing intuitive dashboards, web applications and mobile experiences that turn product and sensor data into useful information and insights.
• Using modern AI development tools extensively to accelerate software development, coding, testing, debugging and rapid prototyping.
• Experimenting with cloud platforms, databases, data analytics, AI and machine learning.
• Building customer facing rapid proof-of-concept systems to determine whether new ideas are technically viable and valuable.
• Working with electronics, embedded and RF engineers to connect physical prototypes with digital platforms and applications.
• Developing new technical concepts and contributing to the creation of new intellectual property and patents.
• Collaborating with universities, technology partners and researchers and helping successful concepts progress towards future product development.

Qualifications & Experience

We’re more interested in curiosity, technical ability and ambition than finding someone who has already done exactly this job before.

You should be the kind of engineer or developer who wants to understand how things work, enjoys experimenting and is prepared to build something to test an idea rather than simply discuss whether it might work.

You will ideally have:

• A degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electronic & Computer Engineering or a related technical discipline.
• Strong software development and programming skills.
• Strong practical experience using modern AI development tools to accelerate application development.
• An understanding of backend development, databases, APIs and modern application architectures.
• Knowledge of cloud technologies and connected-product architectures.
• An appreciation of UI/UX and the ability to make complex information simple and intuitive for users.
• An understanding of cybersecurity and data protection principles for connected products.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving ability, with the confidence to investigate unfamiliar technologies and learn quickly.

We are open to engineers and developers at different stages of their careers.

You may be a recent graduate with excellent technical ability and a portfolio of applications, projects or systems you’ve built yourself, or you may already have several years of industry experience and want the opportunity to move into a more exploratory and innovation-focused environment.

Above all, we are looking for someone who is technically curious, creative, ambitious and excited by the opportunity to create something that doesn’t exist yet.

Why Join Ei’s Innovation Centre?

Ei Electronics develops technology used in homes around the world. Our Innovation Centre has been established to look beyond today’s products and investigate the technologies and ideas that could define what comes next.

You’ll have access to modern R&D laboratories, engineering equipment, connected-product technologies and the resources needed to turn ideas into real working prototypes.

Most importantly, you’ll have the opportunity to work on problems where the answer isn’t already known.

We offer a competitive salary and bonus scheme, health benefits, professional development opportunities and the opportunity to help create technologies that could ultimately improve and protect people’s lives.