Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for IoT Software Developer

🎯 Role Definition

As an IoT Software Developer, you will play a critical role in defining, designing and delivering end‑to‑end connected device systems — spanning embedded code on devices, communication protocols, cloud/edge services and analytics pipelines. You will collaborate closely with hardware engineers, data scientists, platform architects and product stakeholders to build scalable, secure, high‑performance Internet‑of‑Things solutions. Your work will ensure that sensors, gateways, edge devices and cloud services integrate seamlessly to deliver real‑world impact.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Embedded Systems Developer (C/C++)
Software Engineer – Cloud/Edge Platforms
Firmware/Device Software Developer

Advancement To:

Senior IoT Software Developer / Lead IoT Engineer
IoT Platform Architect / IoT Solutions Lead
Director of IoT Engineering / Head of Connected Devices

Lateral Moves:

Edge Computing Systems Engineer
IoT Data Platform Engineer / Data‑Driven IoT Developer
IoT Security Engineer / Embedded Security Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Design, implement and maintain firmware and embedded software running on IoT devices (microcontrollers, sensors, gateways) to collect, process and communicate data reliably and efficiently.
Develop and integrate communication protocols (e.g., MQTT, CoAP, HTTP, BLE, LoRaWAN) enabling devices to communicate with each other, the cloud and edge services.
Build and maintain edge computing modules and gateway software, enabling local processing, filtering, data‑aggregation and minimising network latency and bandwidth usage.
Design and implement the cloud/IoT platform services – device provisioning, lifecycle management (OTA updates), telemetry ingestion, data‑streaming, storage and analytics pipelines.
Collaborate with hardware engineering teams to select sensors, actuators and other IoT hardware components, define device interfaces, driver code, power management, and system integrations.
Ensure system scalability, reliability and manageability across large networks of IoT devices – monitor device health, uptime, connectivity, firmware versions and lifecycle status.
Implement data ingestion, processing and analytics workflows: collect raw sensor data, apply transformation, aggregation and feed into machine‑learning or decision‑support systems.
Optimize software for constrained environments—low power consumption, memory/CPU limitations, intermittent connectivity, fault‑tolerance and standby modes.
Build secure, encrypted, authenticated and authorised device communication and data transport mechanisms, enforce secure firmware update processes, platform hardening and compliance with relevant standards.
Manage device and network connectivity: configure, monitor and troubleshoot wireless/wired networks, gateways, edge system integration and cloud connectivity.
Lead the build and maintenance of CI/CD pipelines, automated testing frameworks, firmware update workflows, and deployment of device‑software, edge‑services and cloud‑components.
Work closely with operations, DevOps and SRE teams to ensure high‑availability, monitoring, alerting, logging, version control of IoT platform and services.
Create and maintain comprehensive technical documentation: device architecture, firmware modules, API definitions, data flow diagrams, system dependencies and release notes.
Conduct thorough testing: unit/integration tests, hardware in the loop, field trials, simulation of connectivity failures, power‑failure scenarios and fault‑injection testing.
Stay updated with emerging IoT technologies, platforms (AWS IoT, Azure IoT Hub, Google Cloud IoT), edge computing frameworks and integrate improvements into product roadmap.
Collaborate with data science and analytics teams to integrate predictive maintenance, anomaly detection, machine‑learning models and dashboards into IoT solution.
Participate in architecture discussions and drive best practices in IoT: modular design, reusable components, device‑cloud interface, security by design, and lifecycle management.
Provide technical support and troubleshooting for field‑deployed IoT systems: analyse device logs, connectivity issues, firmware/edge bugs, performance discrepancies and deploy patches.
Collaborate with business stakeholders and domain experts (manufacturing, utilities, automotive, smart‑homes) to define IoT use‑cases, product roadmaps and deliver measurable business outcomes.
Mentor and coach junior developers and engineers working on IoT projects, share knowledge of embedded systems, protocols, cloud integration and maintain high‑quality engineering culture.

Secondary Functions

Support ad‑hoc data requests and exploratory device or deployment analytics (e.g., device usage metrics, connectivity trends).
Contribute to the organisation’s IoT data strategy and roadmap—help define device lifecycle strategy, edge vs cloud balance, device fleet management.
Collaborate with business units (operations, product, analytics) to translate IoT device and connectivity requirements into software engineering tasks and prioritise back‑log.
Participate in sprint planning, stand‑ups, retrospectives and agile ceremonies within the IoT engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proficiency in programming embedded systems and firmware development (C, C++, Python, Java) for IoT devices.
Strong knowledge of communication protocols and networking for IoT: MQTT, CoAP, HTTP/HTTPS, BLE, LoRaWAN, TCP/IP.
Experience with cloud IoT platforms and services (AWS IoT Core, Azure IoT Hub, Google Cloud IoT) and edge computing frameworks.
Familiarity with embedded Linux or real‑time operating systems (RTOS), device drivers and hardware abstraction layers.
Skills in data ingestion, streaming, storage and analytics (NoSQL, time‑series databases, big‑data frameworks) from IoT device streams.
Competence in designing OTA (over‑the‑air) firmware update pipelines, device provisioning and lifecycle management workflows.
Experience with performance optimisation: power consumption, connectivity efficiency, resource‑constrained devices, memory/CPU footprint.
Knowledge of security practices for IoT: device authentication/authorization, encryption, secure boot, firmware signing, regulatory compliance.
Skilled in CI/CD, version control (Git), build systems for embedded and IoT platforms, automated testing and deployment workflows.
Ability to work across full‑stack of IoT: from firmware and device drivers, through gateways/edge services, to cloud APIs and data analytics pipelines.

Soft Skills

Excellent communication: able to articulate device, gateway and cloud concepts to hardware teams, data scientists and business stakeholders.
Analytical and problem‑solving mindset: diagnose complex embedded, network, connectivity or data‑pipeline issues and propose robust solutions.
Collaboration and teamwork: work seamlessly with cross‑functional teams including hardware engineers, platform engineers, data teams and product owners.
Ownership and accountability: responsible for end‑to‑end delivery of IoT solutions, device behaviour, data integrity and production quality.
Adaptability and continuous learning: stay current with evolving IoT hardware, protocols, cloud services and edge computing trends.
Time‑management and prioritisation: balance feature development, bug‑fixing, device field‑issues and technical debt effectively.
Strategic thinking: align IoT software architecture and product roadmap with business goals, scale‑up plans and device‑fleet management strategy.
Mentorship and development: guide junior engineers, promote best practices in embedded, over‑the‑air updates, connectivity, security and system design.
User‑centric mindset: understand end‑user scenarios, device owner/operator workflows and build software that delivers real‑world usability and reliability.
Quality‑driven: focus on maintainable, testable, scalable IoT software rather than quick fixes, and ensure robust engineering standards.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical/Electronic Engineering, or equivalent professional experience.
Preferred Education:
Master’s degree in Embedded Systems, IoT, Computer Science, or related discipline is a plus.
Relevant Fields of Study:

Computer Science
Software/Embedded Systems Engineering
Electronic/Electrical Engineering
Internet of Things / Connected Systems

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:
3 – 7 years of professional experience in software development, embedded systems or IoT solution delivery.
Preferred:
Proven track record in developing embedded firmware, integrating IoT devices with cloud/edge platforms, managing device fleets, and supporting scalable, secure IoT deployments.

Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for IoT Software Developer