Salary: $145,000 – $210,000 + equity
About the role
Our client is a well-funded space startup looking for an Embedded Linux Software Engineer to develop its embedded Linux platform and flight software. The role sits at the intersection of hardware and software. You’ll be responsible for full development, testing, debugging, and ongoing improvement of the platform, with real ownership over the product.
Much of the work is close to the hardware. You’ll configure the Linux kernel, board support package (BSP), device drivers, device tree, bootloader, and pin muxing on ARM-based platforms. You’ll also work across interfaces including I2C, SPI, UART, CAN, USB, and Ethernet. Platform work of this kind commonly involves build systems such as Yocto or Buildroot, bootloaders such as U-Boot, and low-level debugging with tools like GDB and JTAG.
Reliability is central to everything you build. Software running in space has to keep working when things go wrong, so you’ll develop fault detection, identification, and tolerance mechanisms. You’ll also build robust over-the-air (OTA) update processes that can recover cleanly from failures. When issues do come up, you’ll debug at the system level from the kernel and driver side to isolate root causes and prevent them recurring.
This role suits an engineer who enjoys complex technical challenges and wants full ownership of how the platform develops.
Main responsibilities
- Develop the embedded Linux platform and flight software
- Own full development, testing, debugging, and improvement of the software
- Develop and debug software for embedded ARM-based microcontrollers
- Configure and maintain the Linux kernel, BSP, device drivers, device tree, bootloader, and pin muxing
- Build and maintain OTA update processes, including handling and recovering from update failures
- Develop robust fault detection, identification, and tolerance to ensure system viability
- Carry out system-level debugging from the kernel and driver side, isolating and preventing failures
- Work with hardware interfaces including I2C, SPI, UART, CAN, USB, and Ethernet
Requirements
- 5+ years of embedded Linux development in C
- Strong expertise developing and debugging embedded ARM-based microcontrollers
- 5+ years of experience with the Linux kernel, BSP, device drivers, device tree configuration, bootloaders, and pin mux configuration
- Strong experience with OTA updates, including the failures that can occur and how to fix them
- Networking fundamentals, including TCP/UDP, IPC, and messaging frameworks
- Experience with hardware interfaces including I2C, SPI, UART, CAN, USB, and Ethernet
- Expert system-level debugging from the kernel and driver side
- US citizenship or permanent residency, as this role is subject to ITAR
Nice to have:
- Experience with NVIDIA Jetson or Orin platforms
- Space flight software development experience
- Mission-critical or safety-critical software development experience
The offer
- Salary: $145,000 – $210,000
- Equity
- Full ownership over product development at a well-funded space startup
This role suits an embedded Linux engineer who wants their code flying in space and enjoys solving hard problems close to the hardware. If that’s you, apply below.