Position Summary

FlightWave is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to develop embedded and perception software for autonomous aircraft and uncrewed aerial systems. This engineer will own production software across microcontrollers and Linux-based application processors, integrate sensors and perception capabilities, and support systems from architecture and hardware bring-up through flight test.

The ideal candidate brings recent VTOL, UAS, or other vehicle embedded-software experience; deep expertise in real-time and embedded Linux systems; Perception stack development and the judgment to diagnose issues spanning software, electronics, sensors, networks, and vehicle behavior. The role partners with electrical, systems, controls, autonomy, test, manufacturing, and flight-operations teams.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Essential functions of a job that are crucial to its purpose and must be performed regularly. They are the fundamental tasks that an employee must be able to carry out, with or without reasonable accommodation, and are central to defining the role’s purpose.

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Design, implement, review, and maintain embedded software in C and C++ for microcontrollers, application processors, and heterogeneous edge-compute platforms used on aircraft.

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Own software features through requirements, architecture, implementation, integration, verification, release, and support during ground and flight testing.

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Integrate cameras, EO or IR payloads, IMUs, GNSS receivers, radar, lidar, and other sensors; establish reliable data paths, time synchronization, health monitoring, and fault handling.

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Develop or integrate perception capabilities such as detection, tracking, localization, visual odometry, mapping, calibration, and multi-sensor fusion according to program needs.

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Optimize CPU, GPU, memory, I/O, startup time, latency, throughput, and power use while preserving deterministic behavior on safety- and mission-critical paths.

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Define secure, stable interfaces across perception, autonomy, flight controls, vehicle management, communications, payloads, and operator-facing applications.

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Diagnose complex problems using target debuggers, traces, logic analyzers, telemetry, recorded sensor data, core dumps, and system logs.

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Build automated unit, integration, software-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop, regression, and performance tests; analyze flight data and drive defects to root cause.