Hardware Integrations Engineer

  • Full-time
  • Connected Store
  • Durban, South Africa

Description

Company: Barrows Global

Department: Connected Store

Location: Durban Manufacturing Facility


About Barrows Global


Moving Retail Forward | Moving People Forward | Moving Communities Forward

With over 30 years of experience, Barrows Global is one of the world’s leading retail design and manufacturing businesses, with offices in Durban, Cape Town, London, New York, and Toronto. We harness the potential of our people, the quality of our products, and the spirit of our organisation to create transformative retail experiences worldwide.

We are vertically integrated, offering services that span:

  • Strategy and sales
  • Design and engineering
  • Manufacturing and installation
  • In-trade maintenance and asset tracking
  • Software development
  • Multimedia content creation
  • Data Analytics
  • Sustainable product development


Specialising in the FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) point-of-purchase space, we serve over 80 blue-chip clients globally.Barrows is built on strong values and relationships, fostering an environment where thinkers, makers, doers, and innovators thrive. Our employees are united by their can-do attitude, determination, and passion for purpose-driven work.


About Connected Store


Connected Store is our digital advertising channel for retail. Over the past five years, we have scaled our network to over 10,000 digital, dynamic, interactive, and localisable in-store advertising spaces. We design, build, fund, and install digital touchpoints while managing our media platform's physical assets, digital devices, and content.Our vision is to seamlessly integrate digital media, physical points of sale, and products—enabling brands to deliver dynamic, contextually relevant shopper experiences that drive sales uplift and create market differentiation.

As we continue to pioneer in the retail media space and scale our product-as-a-service offering, we are looking for talented and driven individuals to join our Connected Store Engineering Team.


About the Role


We are seeking a Talented Integration Engineer to join our team and contribute to the design, development, and optimisation of our Connected Store retail media hardware solutions. You will be responsible for integrating embedded systems, ensuring hardware compatibility with software solutions, and working with cutting-edge IoT technologies to enhance our digital retail ecosystem.


You will collaborate closely with Design, Engineering, and clients to evaluate and determine the best approach for delivering a range of retail experiences—whether that involves leveraging the existing Barrows tech stack or selecting and integrating external partner solutions (including computer vision, measurement, lighting, and displays). You will play a key role in prototyping, system optimisation, and deployment of next-generation retail display technology.


Responsibilities

Hardware Development & System Design

  • Design, integrate and develop embedded systems for digital retail displays and IoT-enabled devices.
  • Evaluate and select integration partners, ensuring compliance with quality standards.
  • Ensure seamless hardware-software integration, collaborating with software engineers.

Design & Manufacturing Link

  • Act as a key liaison between the Barrows manufacturing team in prototyping and production.
  • Explore and implement new sensors, displays, and emerging technologies to drive touchpoint innovation and testing.
  • Communicate and document manufactured touchpoints in prototyping and production to key stakeholders, ensuring seamless installation and execution.
  • Ensure the global Connected Store team remains informed and updated on all CS touchpoints.
  • Support and train various stakeholders on using CS manufacturing tools to ensure effective and efficient use in prototyping and production processes.
  • Implement and uphold stringent quality control measures throughout the production process to ensure the highest product quality and reliability standards for CS technology implementation.


Testing & Quality Assurance

  • Conduct prototype testing and performance validation of hardware components.
  • Develop and execute hardware test plans, ensuring system stability and longevity.
  • Troubleshoot and resolve hardware-related issues, implementing effective solutions.


Production & Support

  • Assist in manufacturing processes, ensuring efficiency and product quality.
  • Provide technical support for field-deployed devices, troubleshooting hardware failures.
  • Develop preventative maintenance strategies to enhance hardware lifespan.


Requirements

  • BSc in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
  • 3+ years of experience in hardware engineering, embedded systems, or IoT device development.
  • Hands-on experience with microcontrollers and embedded system programming (e.g., ARM Cortex, ESP32, Raspberry Pi, Arduino).
  • Experience with low-power design techniques for embedded systems.
  • Understanding of thermal management, power distribution, and enclosure design.
  • Experience working with cloud-connected IoT solutions.
  • Ability to work in an agile development environment (Scrum/Kanban).
  • Strong problem-solving skills and ability to collaborate across disciplines.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • Willingness to travel when necessary.


Benefits

  • Flexible working arrangements.
  • Contribution towards your medical aid
  • Opportunity to work with teams from different cities: Durban, Cape Town, London, New York and Toronto.