Secure Embedded Software Engineer Cedar Rapids, IA

Unlock the power of Safety and Mission Critical Engineering with QDSS. We are seeking exceptional individuals to join our elite team- where your expertise will make an impact that matters. Elevate your career in a company dedicated to excellence and the pursuit of safety and mission success.

Quest Defense Systems & Solutions is seeking a Secure Embedded Software Engineer with hands-on Rust experience to develop low-level software for advanced aerospace and defense systems. You’ll design, implement, test, and integrate secure embedded software supporting board support packages, hardware interfaces, and FPGA-based platforms.

This is an opportunity to join upcoming programs at an early stage, influence the software architecture, and work closely with systems, hardware, and FPGA engineers. The role is ideal for someone who enjoys memory-safe systems programming, hardware-near development, and solving complex challenges within secure, mission-critical environments.

This position is onsite based in Cedar Rapids, IA. Relocation assistance is available.

U.S. citizenship and the ability to obtain a Secret clearance are required. Active Secret clearance is preferred.

What You’ll Do

• Design, develop, and maintain secure embedded software using Rust.
• Develop low-level board support packages, device drivers, and hardware interface software.
• Integrate software with FPGAs, SoCs, processors, and other embedded hardware components.
• Participate in software requirements, architecture, interface definition, and technical trade studies.
• Apply secure software design and coding practices throughout the development lifecycle.
• Develop and execute unit, integration, and system-level tests.
• Support board bring-up, hardware/software integration, debugging, and performance optimization.
• Troubleshoot complex issues across software, hardware, FPGA, and system boundaries.
• Collaborate with systems, hardware, FPGA, cybersecurity, and test engineering teams.
• Conduct code reviews and produce design documentation, test evidence, and other technical artifacts.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline.
• At least five years of embedded software development experience.
• Experience developing board support packages, device drivers, hardware abstraction layers, or other hardware-interface software.
• Strong understanding of embedded systems, memory management, concurrency, and real-time software concepts.
• Experience integrating software with processors, SoCs, FPGAs, or other embedded hardware.
• Experience with software requirements, architecture, unit testing, integration testing, debugging, and code reviews.
• Understanding of secure software design and coding practices.
• Experience using version control and modern software-development tools.
• Ability to work onsite in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
• U.S. citizenship and the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Active Secret security clearance.
• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• Production experience using Rust for embedded, bare-metal, or other resource-constrained systems.
• Experience with C or C++ and integrating Rust with existing low-level software.
• Experience developing BSPs or device drivers for an RTOS or embedded Linux environment.
• Familiarity with FPGA-based platforms and SoC hardware/software integration.
• Previous experience developing software for aerospace, defense, or other high-assurance systems.
• Knowledge of DO-178C or similar safety-critical software development processes.
• Experience with static analysis, automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, or secure development tools.
• Experience adopting…