Software Engineer, Embedded Software Engineer

Overview

Candidates will join an experienced and motivated group responsible for the design and prototyping of embedded electronics systems used in autonomous ocean applications. This position will collaborate within a medium-sized team of electrical, computer, and mechanical engineers, contributing to systems currently under development, as well as future systems. The role directly supports the team in designing, developing, and testing software by using a variety of Linux computers or microcontrollers, participating in the complete development process from initial concept to at‑sea testing.

• Collaborate with an integrated government/industry/academia team to identify software requirements and evaluate design approaches for solving technical problems.
• Architect, design, and implement maintainable, robust, and performant software, build, and test processes.
• Integrate, test, and verify software implementations on target hardware platforms.
• Creatively recognize performance gaps and suggest possible improvements.
• Participate in activities to secure and harden Linux systems according to Department of Defense (DoD) standards.
• Operate autonomous systems in the lab or at sea to accomplish the above.
• Post Mission Analysis (PMA) for autonomous systems, including validation of control laws, characterization of navigation performance, and modification of behaviors.
• engineering team to coordinate development efforts, anticipate design changes, prioritize feature implementations and bug fixes, and solicit team feedback.

• U.S. Citizen with ability to obtain minimum SECRET security clearance; active clearance preferred.
• Bachelor’s or higher degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Mathematics (with a software background), or other STEM fields.
• 4+ years of experience in one or more of the following areas:
• Linux application development, embedded and user‑facing, using x64 and/or ARM environments.
• Virtual machines.
• VS Code or similar IDEs.
• Valgrind or similar memory debuggers.
• CMake or similar build tools.
• Cross compilation.
• Unit testing and/or regression testing.
• Subversion (SVN) and/or Git repositories.
• CI/CD pipelines.
• Linux system hardening and security best practices: DISA STIG, PKI for SSH, LUKS disk encryption.
• Proficiency in C, C++, Python, or Java.
• Hardware‑in‑the‑loop testing using instruments such as power supplies and multimeters.
• Familiarity with or ability to read, understand, and interpret complex technical documents (SRSs or ICDs).
• Proficiency with basic office software (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, Teams, SharePoint).
• Able to lift objects up to 40 pounds.
• Able to travel domestically or internationally, estimated at 1–2 weeks per trip up to four times per year.

• Experience with Agile and Scrum project management practices.
• Working knowledge of low‑level communication protocols (SPI, I2C, RS‑232, CAN, Ethernet).
• Experience with Real‑time Operating System (RTOS) or bare‑metal microcontroller firmware development using tools such as Microchip MPLAB X IDE, In‑Circuit Debugger/Programmer (ICD5), Segger J‑Link JTAG Debugger/Programmer, and related laboratory instruments.
• Experience with Altium PCB design software or similar.
• Experience with other Linux environment tools such as OpenCV computer vision algorithms, NVIDIA CUDA, Bash scripting, Octave, MATLAB, or similar for data analysis.
• Experience with Navy standard platforms for autonomous vehicles such as OpenAUV, PCX, DDS middleware.
• Experience with Raspberry Pi or similar low‑power embedded computers.
• Familiarity with basic oceanographic instruments like depth sensors, altimeters, baseline systems, Doppler velocity logs, AHRS, and related.
• Experience with small boat operations and at‑sea testing.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Leidos will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with relevant laws.