Senior Embedded Firmware Engineer; Avionics​/Platform Interface

Senior Embedded Firmware Engineer (Avionics / Platform Interface)

Position

Description:

Protingent Staffing has an exciting direct hire Senior Embedded Firmware Engineer (Avionics / Platform Interface) opportunity.

• Design and implement bootloaders, BSPs, HALs, and low‑level device drivers tightly coupled to custom avionics hardware.
• Bring up new ARM‑based flight boards from first power‑on through stable firmware operation, working directly from schematics and hardware documentation.
• Build firmware using bare‑metal and/or RTOS architectures with deterministic timing and fault tolerance.
• Develop low‑level flight firmware as part of system fault tolerance, including command and telemetry handling, health monitoring, FDIR, safe‑mode behavior, and autonomous recovery.
• Customize and integrate Jetson Linux platforms, including boot chain, device tree, kernel bring‑up, and MCU‑to‑Jetson interfaces.
• Debug and resolve hardware–software integration issues, collaborating closely with avionics and systems engineers through test and flight readiness.
• Implement and validate power sequencing, reset handling, watchdogs, interrupt handling, DMA, and linker configurations.
• Collaborate closely with avionics hardware, systems, and mission teams through integration testing, protoflight activities, and flight readiness reviews.
• Develop and maintain MCU‑side firmware supporting power, thermal, communications, and telemetry functions.
• Support and evolve redundant communication paths (e.g., dual CAN) for coordination, monitoring, and fault tolerance.
• Define, document, and maintain stable firmware interfaces consumed by higher‑level platform software.
• Partner with software engineers to ensure firmware behavior aligns with system‑level requirements and operational constraints.
• Contribute to embedded build automation, reproducibility, and test infrastructure where appropriate.

• 7+ years of hands‑on embedded firmware development experience in the aerospace, robotics, automotive, or other safety‑or mission‑critical systems environments.
• Expert‑level proficiency in C/C++ for embedded systems.
• Strong experience with ARM Cortex‑M (M4/M5/M7 or similar) architectures.
• Proven experience developing bootloaders, BSPs, HALs, and hardware‑facing device drivers.
• Demonstrated ability to bring up new hardware from schematics to working firmware.
• Strong understanding of power sequencing, resets, watchdogs, interrupts, DMA, and linker scripts.
• Hands‑on debugging experience with JTAG/SWD, oscilloscopes, and logic analyzers.
• Experience working with embedded Linux systems (Jetson or similar platforms).
• Ability to operate independently and take full ownership in a startup environment.

• Familiarity with flight software architectures and fault detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR) concepts.
• Experience with RTOS environments such as FreeRTOS, RTEMS, RTLinux, or Embassy.
• Experience with radiation‑tolerant or space‑grade MCUs.
• Familiarity with embedded communication protocols such as CAN, RS485, SPI, I2C, UART, Space Wire, or CCSDS telemetry systems.
• Experience with secure boot, image signing, and in‑field firmware update strategies.
• Experience to CI/CD pipeline or automated build environments for embedded systems.
• Experience with supporting protoflight or flight hardware and design reviews.

• Job Type: Direct Hire
• Salary Range: $160K – $200K
• Location:
  
  Pasadena, CA (Onsite)
• ITAR obligations are associated with this role; U.S. Citizenship, U.S. legal permanent resident status, or protected person status under 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a) (1), (3) is required.

About Protingent:
Protingent is a niche provider of top Engineering and IT talent to Software, Electronics, Medical Device, Telecom, and Aerospace companies nationwide. Protingent exists to make a positive impact and contribution to the lives of others as well as our community by providing relevant, rewarding, and exciting work opportunities for our candidates.