Avionics Embedded Software Engineer II
Develops and maintains embedded flight software in C/C++ for a hypersonic reentry vehicle, integrating hardware and real-time control systems for aerospace missions.
- Compensation
- $106K–$150K
- Location
- Playa Vista, California, United States
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Middle
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- 2+ years
- Category
- Embedded
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- Typically 2+ years of professional experience developing embedded software for aerospace, defense, robotics, automotive, or other high-reliability systems.
- Strong proficiency in modern C and C++ development.
- Experience developing software for bare-metal, RTOS, or Embedded Linux environments.
- Experience debugging software at the hardware boundary, including processor bring-up and peripheral integration.
- Strong understanding of computer architecture, memory systems, interrupts, DMA, and embedded operating systems.
- Experience developing software interfaces for common embedded communication protocols including SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, and RS-422/-232/-485.
- Experience with software verification, unit testing, integration testing, and root-cause analysis.
- Proficiency with Git-based development workflows and modern software development practices.
- Strong Python development skills for test automation, hardware control, and engineering tooling.
- Excellent communication skills and ability to work effectively across multidisciplinary engineering teams.
- Must have the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government Secret/Top Secret security clearance.
Nice to have
- Experience developing flight software for spacecraft, launch vehicles, hypersonic vehicles, autonomous aircraft, or defense systems.
- Experience with NXP i.MX RT, STM32, TI Sitara, Xilinx Zynq, AMD Versal, or similar embedded processing platforms.
- Experience developing distributed embedded systems using communication middleware and protocols such as DDS (Cyclone DDS, Fast DDS, RTI Connext), CoAP, MQTT, gRPC, REST, TCP/IP, UDP, and Ethernet.
- Experience with embedded operating systems (FreeRTOS, Zephyr, Embedded Linux) and embedded Linux build systems (Yocto/OpenEmbedded, Buildroot, PetaLinux), including development of custom Linux distrib
- Experience developing device drivers, Board Support Packages (BSPs), bootloaders, and low-level hardware interfaces.
- Experience with deterministic networking, Precision Time Protocol (PTP), DDS middleware, or distributed embedded systems.
- Experience with high-speed interfaces such as PCIe, GigE Vision, USB 3.0, CameraLink, Aurora, or GMSL.
- Experience with FPGA development, HDL design, or hardware acceleration architectures.
- Experience developing automated test frameworks and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) systems.
- Familiarity with cybersecurity concepts, secure boot, encryption, and trusted computing architectures.
- Experience with fault-tolerant and safety-critical software architectures.
- Experience supporting vehicle integration campaigns, environmental testing, flight testing, or mission operations.
- Previous experience working in a fast-paced startup environment with aggressive development schedules.
Full description
**Advanced Reentry TechnologiesWho We Are:
Inversion is an aerospace and defense company pioneering advanced reentry technology to enable next-generation capabilities from space. By combining high-performance materials, precision aerodynamics, and mission-driven autonomy, Inversion is transforming reentry into an operational capability for an entirely new class of missions.
The company’s highly maneuverable reentry spacecraft, Arc, is designed for rapid global cargo delivery, hypersonic testing, and other national security missions that require precise, controlled flight through the atmosphere. Arc creates an entirely new transportation domain, unlocking unprecedented speed and global reach.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Inversion designs, manufactures, and integrates its spacecraft under one roof, enabling the company to move rapidly from concept to flight. The company is backed by leading investors including Y Combinator, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures, with customers across the U.S. government and commercial space industry.
Position Overview:
As an Embedded Software Engineer II at Inversion you will develop the software that powers and controls Inversion’s hypersonic reentry vehicle. You will work across the full software stack, from low-level hardware interfaces and board support packages to real-time vehicle control, networking, and mission-critical flight applications.
You will partner closely with electrical, systems, GNC, and integration engineers to bring up new hardware, develop flight software architectures, and deliver reliable software capable of operating through all phases of flight. This role requires strong ownership, hands-on debugging skills, and the ability to rapidly solve challenging hardware-software integration problems.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design, develop, test, and maintain embedded software for flight computers, avionics subsystems, payload interfaces, and vehicle control systems.
- Develop high-reliability software in C and C++ for real-time embedded systems operating in mission-critical aerospace environments.
- Own software development throughout the entire product lifecycle, including requirements definition, architecture, implementation, verification, flight test support, and operational deployment.
- Develop and maintain Board Support Packages (BSPs), hardware abstraction layers, bootloaders, and device drivers for custom avionics hardware.
- Perform board bring-up and hardware enablement activities on new processor and FPGA-based platforms.
- Develop software interfaces for sensors, actuators, radios, power systems, storage devices, and vehicle networks.