Sr. Embedded Software Engineer, Radar — Irvine, CA

q6wpcvA U4SGU qGC9JT UQ5UJjg7djBA, aAZ. is a defense and engineering firm delivering phased array, radar, RF payload, and secure communications solutions to government and prime contractor customers. We are headquartered in Irvine, California. Our Ground Based Radar team is building a mobile phased array radar, and we are adding a Senior Embedded Software Engineer to the GBR Software Engineering team.

Team: Engineering, Ground Based Radar (GBR), GBR Software Engineering

Location: Irvine, CA (on-site, lab-based)

Employment Type: Full-Time

Base Salary Range: $165,000 – $215,000

Clearance: This position requires the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret clearance, which requires U.S. citizenship. An active clearance is preferred.

Position Summary

As a Senior Embedded Software Engineer on the Ground Based Radar team, you will write the software that runs on the radar’s array-side electronics: the controllers that steer the beam, configure the beamforming and digital receiver/exciter hardware, and report health and status. You will work in embedded Linux and real-time environments on the ARM processors of SoC and RFSoC-class devices, from drivers and board bring-up to the control applications that take commands from the radar computer.

You will work closely with the FPGA, embedded electrical, and compute hardware engineers who design the boards and firmware you run on, and with the radar compute platform team that sends you commands. This is a senior-level, hands-on, lab-based role: you will own the technical decisions on the array-side software, spend real time at the bench with oscilloscopes and logic analyzers, and be on the floor when the array comes up.

Key Responsibilities

Array Control and Beam Steering Software

• Develop embedded software for array control and beam steering: receive beam commands, compute or load steering and calibration data, and apply them to the array within timing constraints.

• Develop control software for the beamforming and digital receiver/exciter hardware, including configuration, mode changes, and timing and synchronization handling.

• Implement the command and telemetry interfaces between the array-side controllers and the radar computer, to interface control documents defined with systems engineering.

Platform, Drivers, and Board Support

• Bring up and maintain embedded Linux (Yocto, PetaLinux, or similar) and RTOS or bare-metal environments on the ARM processors of SoC and RFSoC-class devices.

• Write and maintain device drivers and low-level software for FPGA register interfaces, DMA, and peripherals over SPI, I2C, UART, and Ethernet.

• Work with FPGA engineers on the hardware/software boundary: register maps, interrupts, memory-mapped interfaces, and firmware and software update paths.

Health Monitoring, Integration, and Test

• Implement health and status monitoring for the array electronics: temperatures, voltages, currents, fault detection, and safe shutdown behavior.

• Support board bring-up, hardware-in-the-loop testing, array integration, calibration, and field testing, including live debug on hardware.

• Maintain automated builds, unit and hardware-in-the-loop tests, and configuration-managed releases for the embedded software.

Required Qualifications

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

• 8+ years of professional embedded software development in C and C++.

• Experience with embedded Linux on ARM processors, including kernel or user-space drivers and board support packages (Yocto, PetaLinux, or similar).

• Experience with an RTOS or bare-metal development for real-time control.

• Experience writing low-level software for hardware peripherals and FPGA interfaces (SPI, I2C, UART, DMA, memory-mapped registers).

• Comfort debugging at the bench with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and JTAG debuggers.

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret clearance, which requires U.S. citizenship.

• Ability to work on site in Irvine, CA.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Zynq, Zynq UltraScale+, or RFSoC-class SoC FPGA platforms.

• Experience with phased array, beam steering, or radar control software.

• Experience with software-defined radio or RF transceiver control software.

• Experience with Linux IIO, UIO, or DMA frameworks for high-rate data.

• Python for test automation and hardware-in-the-loop testing.

• Active Secret or higher security clearance.

What we offer

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage; 401(k) with company matching; and paid time off.

• Professional development support, including training and certifications relevant to your field.

• Relocation assistance considered case by case.

• Hands-on ownership of real scope in a growing defense technology company.

Equal Opportunity

q6wpcvA U4SGU qGC9JT UQ5UJjg7djBA, aAZ. is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.

Compensation Range: $165K - $215K