Roman Leonov
Senior Embedded Software Engineer
Berlin, Germany
Professional Summary
Embedded Software Engineer with 13+ years of experience in embedded C, RTOS, and bare-metal development.
Specializing in USB Host/Device stacks, firmware architecture, security devices, and hardware-software integration.
Architected and shipped 11 production devices with more than 1 million units manufactured.
Experienced in technical leadership, open-source development, and building embedded engineering teams.
Technical Expertise
- Languages: C, Python
- RTOS: FreeRTOS, Zephyr RTOS
- Architectures: ARM Cortex-M, Xtensa, RISC-V
- Interfaces: USB, SPI, I²C, UART, CAN, NFC
- Security: PKI, ECC, RSA, AES, SHA
- Hardware: PCB design, board bring-up, JTAG/SWD
- Tools: Git, GCC, GitHub Actions, CI/CD
Professional Experience
Senior Software Engineer — Espressif
October 2022 – November 2025
Developed USB Host and Device functionality for the ESP-IDF framework, including architecture, APIs, integration, and automated testing.
Key contributions:
- Designed and implemented USB hub support for ESP-IDF.
- Refactored USB device enumeration using a queued state-machine architecture.
- Maintained Espressif’s TinyUSB integration and coordinated upstream synchronization.
- Developed hardware-in-the-loop CI infrastructure.
- Contributed ESP32-P4 support upstream to TinyUSB.
Embedded Software Team Lead — Aladdin R.D.
July 2017 – April 2022
Led development of the JaCarta 3 embedded platform and its evolution into a reusable production architecture for security devices.
Key contributions:
- Led firmware architecture and platform development.
- Built and mentored an embedded engineering team.
- Designed an x86 emulator for embedded application development and testing.
- Developed secure boot and firmware update systems.
- Contributed to USB security devices and smart-card reader development.
Embedded Software Engineer — Aladdin R.D.
December 2014 – June 2017
- Architected the reusable JaCarta 3 embedded platform.
- Designed fault-tolerant dual-slot firmware updates.
- Implemented secure firmware update mechanisms.
- Developed USB composite devices and storage systems.
- Ported RexOS to Nordic nRF51/nRF52 microcontrollers.
Firmware Engineer — WWPass
February 2012 – November 2014
Developed firmware and hardware for USB/NFC authentication tokens and smart-card readers.
- Designed schematics and PCBs.
- Developed USB firmware for ATmega32U2.
- Performed NFC antenna matching and hardware debugging.
Firmware Engineer — NIIRET BMSTU
September 2011 – February 2013
- Developed distributed wireless time synchronization.
- Designed STM32-based hardware and bare-metal firmware.
- Implemented embedded control and communication systems.
Open Source
Zephyr Project
USB Area Collaborator · June 2026 – Present
Contributing to USB development in the Zephyr RTOS project.
Espressif ESP-IDF
Contributed to the ESP-IDF USB subsystem and its supporting components.
TinyUSB
Contributed upstream platform support and maintained Espressif integrations.
Education
Engineer Degree
Bauman Moscow State Technical University
2007 – 2013
WES evaluation: equivalent to a Master’s Degree in radio and electronic systems development.
Languages
- English — C1
- German — B2
- Russian — Native