Senior Embedded Software Engineer

We are looking for a Senior Embedded Software Engineer with 5+ years of experience to own critical embedded subsystems on autonomous underwater vehicles from blank-sheet design through field deployment. You'll join a fast-moving, SpaceX-inspired defense startup building attritable UUVs for the U.S. Navy — vehicles that need to be in the water within months, not years. We need a self-starting engineer who has personally architected, implemented, and shipped embedded systems (not just contributed to a team effort) and thrives in an environment with no formal processes and full end-to-end ownership. You'll focus on one of three areas: Embedded Linux compute, motor-control firmware, or battery-management-system firmware.

What will you be doing?

- Serving as the Responsible Engineer for a major embedded subsystem — writing production C/C++ code for deterministic, real-time control of a vehicle operating underwater with strict latency, jitter, and memory constraints

- Building custom embedded Linux images (Buildroot/Yocto) tuned for real-time performance on ARM-based platforms (Nvidia Jetson), or writing bare-metal/FreeRTOS firmware for STM32 microcontrollers controlling motors or battery management systems

- Bringing up brand-new PCBAs from scratch — using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and in-circuit debuggers to resolve timing issues, signal integrity problems, and manufacturing defects alongside your electrical engineering counterpart

- Designing and implementing deterministic Ethernet (UDP) communication protocols, CAN/SPI/I2C interfaces, and telemetry systems that keep the vehicle connected and controllable in the field

- Moving at startup speed to get an MVP embedded system into the water within 3 months — making smart 80% trade-offs, iterating rapidly through design-build-test cycles, and supporting field testing and sea trials