Job Description

A VC-backed, early-stage space technology company is developing a scalable electronically steered radar platform for advanced geospatial-intelligence missions. Its technology will support spaceborne applications including synthetic aperture radar (SAR), Earth observation and target tracking.

We are seeking a hands-on Senior Embedded Firmware Engineer to help develop the firmware behind this mission-critical radar payload. You will own substantial parts of the development lifecycle, including architecture, implementation, testing, integration and operational support.

This is an opportunity to become an early technical contributor, solve difficult real‑time processing challenges and help shape the firmware team, tools and engineering practices from the ground up.

What You’ll Do

• Help a multidisciplinary engineering team define software requirements.
• Architect, design and implement embedded firmware for a spaceborne radar sensor.
• Develop firmware supporting radar operation, data collection, storage and processing.
• Work closely with radar-algorithm, FPGA, hardware and mechanical engineers.
• Optimize algorithms for embedded processors, edge-compute platforms and ground-based servers.
• Implement efficient, reliable movement of data between processors, memory, FPGAs, storage and network interfaces.
• Evaluate compute, memory, power, complexity and maintenance requirements.
• Produce technical trade studies to guide architecture and implementation decisions.
• Create test plans and test firmware directly on hardware platforms.
• Support hardware integration, debugging and system verification.
• Help recruit and interview additional engineers as the team grows.

What We’re Looking For

• BS or MS degree in engineering, computer science or a related discipline.
• Eight or more years of embedded firmware or embedded software development experience.
• Strong hands‑on programming experience in C and C++.
• Knowledge of one or more of the following:
• Board Support Packages
• Operating systems or RTOS environments
• Bootloaders
• Microcontrollers or embedded processors used in satellite systems
• Experience with Git, version control and code reviews.
• Ability to work independently, make sound technical decisions and deliver in a fast‑moving startup environment.
• Comfortable operating without perfectly mature requirements, processes or CI/CD infrastructure.
• Willingness to work on‑site in the Seattle/Redmond area.

Particularly Valuable Experience

• Radar, pulse radar, SAR, MTI or software‑defined radio systems.
• FPGA or SoC platforms, including embedded processors such as MicroBlaze.
• Kintex UltraScale+, Xilinx or AMD FPGA architectures.
• Multi‑threaded systems, including tasks, priorities, synchronization and deadlocks.
• Low‑level debugging involving clocking, interrupts, memory timing and hardware interfaces.
• Multi‑processor embedded designs.
• SPI, UART, GPIO, I²C and Ethernet interfaces.
• Efficient, low‑latency data movement between FPGAs, processors, memory, storage and networking interfaces.
• Ethernet and TCP/IP networking stacks.
• Reading and interpreting hardware schematics.
• Space‑flight firmware and an understanding of how radiation can affect processors and memory.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Top Secret security clearance.
• Previous technical leadership or team‑building experience.

Why Join?

You will have considerable autonomy and direct influence over how the radar platform is built. You will work closely with hardware, FPGA, radar and mechanical engineers while helping establish the firmware architecture and development practices for a growing space company.

This environment suits someone who enjoys difficult technical problems, works effectively through ambiguity and is motivated by building technology that has not existed before.

Do not meet every preferred qualification? We would still like to hear from you. Exceptional embedded engineers with the ability and motivation to learn radar applications are encouraged to apply.

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