Sam Kent MEng

Email: [email protected] Web: samjkent.co.uk LinkedIn: /samjohnkent GitHub: @samjkent

Skills

Technical Skills

• Languages: C, C++, Rust, Python, Java (Android), TypeScript
• Embedded Systems: STM32, ESP32, RP2040, nRF5x, iMX
• Protocols: MQTT, WebSockets (OCPP), mTLS, HTTP, AT, Thread, Matter
• Firmware Libraries/Tools: FreeRTOS, TinyUSB, CMSIS-DSP, FatFs, lwIP, mbedTLS, GDB, tflite, Embedded Linux (Yocto), Barebox
• Hardware Design: Circuit Design, PCB Design (KiCAD)
• Testing & Automation: Automated HIL Systems, Unit Testing (pytest, cmocka), Schematic Analysis, Circuit Debugging
• DevOps Collaboration: Cloud Build Systems, Certificate Management/Provisioning

Leadership & Collaboration

• Collaborating with other engineers in best practices and complex problem solving to share knowledge in my areas of expertise
• Taking ownership of projects involving cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality embedded systems solutions
• Driving technical architecture changes that improve system scalability and performance

Experience

Senior Embedded Engineer, Pod Point

October 2021 – Present

Pod Point is a leading electric vehicle charging company where I've taken ownership of key technical projects and contributed to product innovations, enabling growth and scalability.

• Bring up a Yocto based Linux distribution on iMX6ULL based hardware
  • Integrate with external modules (RFID/MID/Modem/PLC/WiFi/BLE/Thread)
  • Configuring system services to set up required interfaces and software
  • Configure peripherals in the device tree for required interfaces
  • Develop user space applications to process inputs, perform business logic, and communicate results via peripherals
  • Work with cloud team to set up automated cloud builds and custom certificate bundles for releases
• Lead the team through a Rust redesign of our inter-MCU comms application
• Design and implement product specific software in Rust that communicates with the EV Charging software
• Develop features for the real-time charge controller (STM32 with FreeRTOS: MPU, MCUBoot)
• Develop final assembly infrastructure to commission and verify manufactured hardware
• Work with electronic and compliance engineers to ensure products meet required regulations (EMC/BS/ISO)
• Designed and implemented the migration from a proprietary HTTP REST API to an industry standard protocol over WebSockets (OCPP)
• Implement certificate management and mTLS connection using lwIP and mbedTLS on an ESP32
• Set up automated builds for STM32 and ESP32 projects
• Develop an automated HIL to run test plans on units when developers release code on GitHub
• Set up automated unit tests in GitHub Actions
• Implement signal processing algorithms to monitor power and control signals
• Automate release note creation and distribution
• Built an MCP server to integrate remote diagnostics tools and internal documentation with Jira and Confluence to assist issue diagnosis for units in the field

Embedded/Software Engineer (Contract), Microbit Education Foundation

November 2017 – May 2021 (typically 3 days/week)

Joined the Microbit Education Foundation soon after it formed, collaborating closely with teams at Lancaster University, Microsoft Research, and Arm. To date 70 million children have learnt with micro:bit in over 85 countries.

• Supporting the development of the DAL/CODAL Hardware Abstraction Library (nRF51/nRF52)
• Designing and implementing a custom BLE bootloader for the micro:bit (nRF51/nRF52)
• Developing and testing hardware for micro:bit v1.5 and micro:bit v2
  • Speaker / Microphone component analysis for new design
  • Hardware verification of new product
  • Driver development for peripherals
• Implemented a compatibility layer for micro:bit V2 to interface with existing mbed libraries
• Created an open source reference design for the micro:bit v2 in KiCAD
• Adding WebUSB support to the micro:bit's Python Editor

Embedded Engineer (Contract), Remidi Pro

May 2021 – August 2021

• Developing firmware for a USB MIDI keyboard (Extra Deluxe Mfg. "The Sixty-One")
• Implementing drivers for the keybed and controls, a composite USB HID & MIDI class, and debugging hardware over video calls with a team based in Austin, Texas

Product Development / Embedded / Hardware Engineer (Contract), FFT

August 2020 – November 2020

• Developing a bespoke USB MIDI device (STM32 based)
• Designing and manufacturing a modular set of I2C daughter-boards for reuse across devices
• Developed a WebMIDI interface to configure the controller

Demonstrations Engineer Intern, ARM

July 2015 – August 2016

Created demonstrations exploring the latest advances in the ARM ecosystem, presenting them at events such as ARM TechCon and Embedded World. Projects included a data visualiser for an IoT demo, a swag dispenser linked to Twitter, traffic sign recognition using OpenCV, and a large IR touchscreen installation.

Other Contracts

• OnlineMortgages.co.uk — Online mortgage application system (Laravel/MySQL)
• SplaatMedia — Photo management system for an event photographer (CakePHP/MySQL)
• Boss Controls — Engineer reporting system and companion mobile apps (React/PHP/MySQL, React Native)
• Octotech LTD — Websites, database systems, WordPress themes, SPAs (HTML/CSS/JS/PHP/React); CI/CD with PHPUnit
• Freeman PC Services — Various web and desktop projects
• Electronics repair: amplifiers, guitar pedals, mixers, and other hardware

Certifications & Professional Development

• Regularly attend webinars and conferences to keep up to date with innovations in embedded systems and the wider tech ecosystem
• Regular contributor to open-source projects on GitHub and active in the embedded engineering community
• Completing the application process to become a chartered engineer with the IET

Education

MEng, Electronic Engineering — First Class Honours

University of Leeds, 2012–2017

• Modules: Embedded Systems, FPGA Design, DSP, Circuit Design, Network Security
• MEng Project: Developed an embedded system to monitor vibration exposure from power tools, designing hardware and implementing real-time filtering algorithms to collect and process data

Personal Projects

More details on my website and GitHub.

Pavement Fly-Tipping Monitor

Real-time detection system using a fixed CCTV camera and a fine-tuned YOLOv8 model to monitor fly-tipping activity outside permitted collection hours.

• Started with a change detection approach before moving to a model-based solution
• Fine-tuned a YOLOv8n model on labelled frames captured from the specific camera
• Built a browser-based timeline annotation tool with bounding box drawing and automatic label propagation across static segments
• Implemented asymmetric debouncing on detection counts to avoid spurious alerts from brief model misses
• Saves before/after clips from a buffer on confirmed detection changes and serves an annotated MJPEG stream for live monitoring

Embedded Image Recognition

Fine-tuned and optimised MobileNetV3 model to detect cats on embedded hardware.

• Fine-tuned model in Google Colab; optimised and exported as a tflite model
• Deployed on a FRDM-MCXN947 FreeRTOS project with tflite inference

Modular DJ Clock Source

RP2040 listening for multicast packets from Pioneer XDJs via an ethernet link, generating a clock signal for synths.

Audio Sampler and Sequencer

STM32F7-based audio sampler and sequencer with FreeRTOS and FatFs.

Modular Audio Mixer

Eurorack-compatible audio mixer, iterating on circuit design and PCB/PCBA across multiple revisions.

Sound System

Designed and built a hire sound system with a friend — simulated speaker boxes, built enclosures from scratch, and regularly repaired amplifiers, mixers, and turntables.

AV Art Installation

Collaborated with students from Leeds College of Music to create interactive visualisations: an LED array reacting to music (Processing/Arduino) and a ThreeJS VR application.