Senior Software Engineer - Aerospace & Defense Startup

Senior Software Engineer, Autonomous Aerial Systems

Join a fast growing team building advanced autonomous aerial platforms used in public safety, defense, and critical infrastructure missions. This role sits at the core of a highly integrated hardware and software effort, where performance, reliability, and efficiency directly shape real world outcomes. You will work closely with experts across embedded systems, perception, communications, and robotics to deliver software that operates at the edge of what is technically possible.

You will help design and ship the software foundation of compact unmanned aerial systems operating under extreme constraints. Every cycle, watt, and byte counts. The systems you build will be trusted in environments where failure is not an option, and where innovation can translate into saved lives and mission success.

• Design and implement Linux drivers for advanced imaging sensors and peripherals
• Build and customize board support packages using Yocto for Qualcomm based Linux platforms
• Optimize high bandwidth video and low latency control links over constrained radio channels
• Push performance per watt to the limit on tightly size, weight, and power constrained systems
• Train, evaluate, and deploy machine learning models for perception, navigation, and situational awareness
• Implement camera calibration, image correction, stabilization, and dewarping pipelines
• Integrate third party hardware and software solutions into a complex embedded stack

• Five or more years of professional software development experience
• At least two years building embedded or near real time systems
• Strong proficiency in C++ and Python
• Hands on experience with Linux based systems, including Ubuntu or Android
• Deep familiarity with inter process communication and data serialization techniques
• Experience developing or tuning radio, networking, or streaming systems

• Building and maintaining Yocto based Linux distributions
• Working on Qualcomm or Snapdragon platforms
• Using gstreamer, v4l2, or similar multimedia frameworks
• Optimizing code with NEON, GPU compute, or shader pipelines
• Training and deploying computer vision or deep learning models
• Experience with MAVLink or robotic messaging protocols

• Development on robotic or autonomous systems
• Work with image signal processors and camera pipelines
• Background in SLAM, localization, or robotic perception
• A demonstrated passion for drones, flight systems, imaging, or photography
• Active participation in open source projects or technical communities

We value engineers who take ownership, explore unconventional solutions, and remain resilient when tackling hard problems. You should be comfortable operating with limited resources, making thoughtful tradeoffs, and iterating quickly toward excellence. Curiosity, humility, and a strong drive to build exceptional systems matter as much as technical depth.

Please include a resume, a brief introduction, and any portfolio or project examples you feel represent your best work. We are particularly interested in one project you are most proud of and why it matters to you.

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