Embedded Software Engineer

Array Labs•Palo Alto, CA 94301, US• Full Time

Posted 3 months ago• Software

Job Description

At Array Labs, we are building the world’s most advanced radar imaging satellites to produce an accurate, continuously updated 3D map of the Earth, providing governments and commercial organizations with critical insights into the physical world.

We design and build our satellites end-to-end, from on-orbit hardware to ground software and data processing, achieving system performance not possible with conventional satellite systems.

As an Embedded Software Engineer, you will develop the embedded software that enables Array’s radar sensors, communication links, and flight systems to operate reliably in orbit. Your work will include board bring-up of Linux-based platforms, high-performance data movement between sensors and compute elements, integration with FPGA and RF subsystems, and the development of safety-critical control and FDIR algorithms.

You will collaborate closely with signal processing, hardware, and GNC engineers to prototype, evaluate, and deploy software architectures that meet demanding latency, throughput, and reliability requirements. The software you build will directly influence radar performance, system robustness, and mission resilience on orbit.

As part of our quickly growing engineering team, you will play a critical role in the design of the world’s most advanced radar satellite constellation—one that will significantly improve humanity’s ability to rapidly and comprehensively understand our changing planet.

Responsibilities:

Develop highly reliable and available software systems for our low-latency, high-capacity radar sensor, communication system, and flight control system

Board bring-up of a Linux-based platform that integrates radar sensors, flight computers, RF transceivers, and navigation sensors

Work collaboratively with signal processing, hardware, and GNC engineers to build performant and reliable embedded software for our payload

Rapid prototyping and evaluation of key architectural choices and design constraints

Implement high-efficiency data movement between our radar sensor, FPGA fabric, microprocessors, networking interfaces, and storage peripherals.

Develop safety-critical system-level software for hardware components and develop FDIR (fault detection, isolation, and recovery) algorithms for mission-critical systems

Debug complex, system-level, multi-component issues that typically span across multiple layers from kernel to driver to application

Basic Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or related field

4+ years of embedded software experience

Good understanding of Embedded Systems and OS concepts (Linux/RTOS).

Experience in one or more of the following areas: BSP/Board Support Package, Operating Systems, RTOS, Bootloader, Power Management, Linux, MCU (Microcontroller).

Excellent teamwork and communication skills

Learns new concepts rapidly, completely, and in a self-directed manner

High levels of self-motivation and personal accountability

Ability to work in a fast-paced environment under significant time constraints

Experience programming in C or C++ in embedded environments and in Python to support development, automation, and testing.

Preferred Skills and Experience:

Master’s degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or related field

Experience with aerospace or space projects (flight control/GNC)

Experience in the automotive, medical robotics, or similar regulated embedded device industry with a focus on safety and high availability

Good understanding of multi-threaded embedded system concepts including tasks, priorities, and deadlocks

Embedded software debugging experience including clock-level issues, bridges, delays, interrupts, clock gating, and polling using debuggers (Keil, J-Link)

Experience building software for complex embedded systems or custom SoCs

Hands-on coding experience with peripherals with interfaces such as UART, SPI, CSI-2, i2c, GPIO, USB, and PCIE

Experience developing with modern Real-Time Operating Systems (FreeRTOS, Zephyr, ThreadX, VxWorks)

Experience with embedded software design and debugging of boards with multiple processors (ARM/RISC-V, DSPs, MCUs) and a large array of peripherals using a multitude of interfaces (SPI, UART, GPIO, I2C, Ethernet)

Experience with a variety of microprocessors (ARM,Nordic, Microchip, STM, etc) and hardware modules

Working knowledge of networking stack (Ethernet, TCP/IP suite) desired

Ability to read and interpret schematic diagrams

ITAR Requirements:

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Array Labs is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made on the basis of merit, competence, and job qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by gender, color, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, age, gender identity, veteran status, disability status, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Interview Process

We will conduct three interviews via Zoom; the typical process takes around 2-4 weeks to complete from start to finish.

Hiring and Compensation Strategy

Our hiring and compensation strategy is simple:

1) find uncommonly good people

2) pay them uncommonly well

You can anticipate competitive pay, with high flexibility between salary and equity-based compensation.

Why you should join Array Labs

Array Labs is launching a constellation of satellites to create the first high-resolution, real-time, three-dimensional model of Earth. Our next-generation satellite technology will offer image quality 60x greater than traditional techniques, profoundly expanding humanity’s ability to understand and respond to events on a global scale.

In forging an affordable, accessible, accurate representation of Earth, our work has the potential to transform the face of dozens of fields, including autonomy, telecommunications, disaster relief, gaming, climate science, defense and construction.