Software Engineering Lead

Join Earth Optics as a Software Engineering Lead!

At Earth Optics we are combining cutting-edge genomic analysis, data science, microbiology, and remote sensing to revolutionize agriculture. Our mission is to be the leading soil information company, delivering maps that growers, farmers, ranchers, and other stakeholders use to cost-effectively increase yields and improve soil health and the climate. We are creating a future where traditional sampling methods are obsolete.

We are a growing company with a passion for soil health, innovative technologies, and supporting all within the food value chain. We currently have ~100 individuals spread across 20 states and two countries, and they come from all walks of life, industries, and experiences. We are deeply focused on building the future of AgTech and sustainability and helping the world see soil differently.

Our Software Engineering Lead will join our Software Engineering team as an individual contributor, helping build and maintain software that connects field applications, laboratory automation, hardware, and data systems. This role is ideal for an engineer who enjoys moving between production software and physical systems, takes ownership of the technology they support, and is comfortable solving problems across software, electronics, and hardware.

• Job Type: Full time, Exempt
• Work Location:
  
  Hybrid — Raleigh, North Carolina. This role requires practical commuting distance to the Raleigh office and typically works onsite 1–3 days per week, with flexibility based on project and hardware-testing needs.
• Travel: 10% of the time
• Compensation: $115,000-$130,000 annually + equity.

* Your actual base pay will depend on your job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

• Take primary engineering ownership of the Mobile Ground Owl (GO) application following a structured handoff. Maintain a stable, high-quality field application by diagnosing issues, implementing targeted enhancements, managing dependencies, supporting releases, and collaborating with backend engineers on APIs and integrations.
• Improve the reliability and maintainability of Mobile Ground Owl through automated testing, observability, documentation, and support tooling. Help ensure dependable operation in low- and no-connectivity field environments where offline data capture, data integrity, synchronization, and recovery are critical.
• Design and develop lab automation systems that integrate application software, firmware, sensors, motors, actuators, microcontrollers or single-board computers, and custom electronics. Develop control logic, data-acquisition software, calibration routines, diagnostics, safety interlocks, and operator interfaces.
• Contribute software across Earth Optics products and platforms, including customer-facing applications, backend services, integrations, device software, and internal engineering tools. Collaborate with product managers, engineers, lab teams, hardware teams, and operational teams to turn real-world problems into practical, maintainable solutions.
• Apply strong engineering practices across prototypes and production systems, including thoughtful design, code review, automated testing, observability, security, and documentation. Use AI-assisted development tools thoughtfully to accelerate implementation, debugging, testing, research, and documentation while retaining responsibility for correctness, security, safety, and code quality.

• Complete a structured handoff and establish clear engineering ownership of the Mobile Ground Owl application.
• Develop a strong understanding of Mobile Ground Owl’s field workflows and reliability…