Embedded Linux & Video Pipeline Engineer

Remote Robotic; Ottawa; On-site; CAD 110,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity participation

On-site lab access

Job summary

Remote Robotic Systems is seeking an Embedded Video Pipeline Engineer to own the latency-critical video stack from camera capture on an ARM SoC through encoding, encryption, and transport, working with the hardware team.

You will shape architecture and tooling, bring up the stack on new boards, and set production-readiness criteria while profiling latency and ensuring real-time performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or CS or equivalent.
• Extensive embedded Linux on ARM.
• Experience with V4L2, CSI-2, media-controller.
• Experience with hardware video encoders and VPUs.
• Familiar with Buildroot or Yocto.

Responsibilities

• Own the embedded video pipeline from sensor capture through transport and validation.
• Build per-stage latency instrumentation and baselines.
• Develop and maintain Linux camera and media components (V4L2, CSI-2, media-controller graphs).
• Tune hardware encoders for low-latency operation balancing quality and bandwidth.
• Own the embedded Linux image and platform workflow (Buildroot/Yocto).
• Bring up the stack on new hardware and debug across kernel, drivers, board, and lab.
• Maintain platform or vendor patches.
• Integrate video transport with wireless link and tune for real link conditions.
• Build bench and receiver-side tools for visibility into performance.
• Define automated tests, soak tests, counters, and release criteria.

Skills

Embedded Linux

C programming

V4L2 / media pipeline

Video encoding

Buildroot / Yocto

Latency profiling

Kernel/driver debugging

ARM platforms

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or CS or equivalent

Job description

About Remote Robotic Systems

Help build advanced systems operating at the intersection of aerospace, robotics, and defence technology.

About Remote Robotic Systems

Help build advanced systems operating at the intersection of aerospace, robotics, and defence technology.

Remote Robotic Systems (RRS) is a Canadian robotics and defence-tech company helping organizations deploy enterprise-grade drones, uncrewed aircraft, robotic platforms, sensors, payloads, and remote operations technologies for mission-critical applications.

Our solutions support customers across defence, public safety, security, industrial, infrastructure, energy, and government sectors.

Through our Airmetal team, we develop advanced aerospace, communications, and autonomous systems designed for demanding real‑world environments.

We're a small, fast-moving engineering team that values ownership, technical depth, practical problem solving, and the ability to turn ambitious ideas into working hardware.

The Role

Airmetal is looking for an Embedded Linux & Video Pipeline Engineer to own a latency-critical video stack from camera capture through secure wireless transport.

You will work from camera capture on an ARM SoC through hardware encoding, encryption, packetization, and transport while building the instrumentation needed to show where every millisecond goes. You will also bring the stack up on new boards alongside the hardware team.

This is product ownership rather than a ticket queue. You will have the opportunity to shape the architecture, measurement approach, development tools, and production-readiness criteria for a critical subsystem.

We're looking for an engineer who profiles before optimizing, enjoys debugging across hardware and software boundaries, and wants to see software operate on real hardware.

What You Will Work On

Embedded Video Pipeline

• Own the embedded video pipeline from sensor capture and V4L2 through hardware encoding, encryption, packetization, transport, and receiver-side validation.
• Build per-stage latency instrumentation, establish baselines, and drive measurable improvements.
• Develop and maintain Linux camera and media components including V4L2, CSI-2, media-controller graphs, DMA paths, device tree, and vendor VPU integrations.
• Tune hardware encoders for low-latency operation while balancing quality, bandwidth, buffer behaviour, and resilience to packet loss.

Embedded Linux Platform

• Own the embedded Linux image and platform workflow using Buildroot or Yocto, including boot, root filesystem, updates, and deployability.
• Bring up the software stack on new hardware and debug across the kernel, drivers, board, and laboratory equipment.
• Carry and maintain platform or vendor patches where required.

Integration, Testing & Validation

• Integrate video transport with the wireless link stack and tune stream behaviour for real link conditions.
• Build bench and receiver-side tools that make performance, reliability, and field issues observable.
• Define automated tests, soak tests, counters, and release criteria for the video subsystem.

Core Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent demonstrated experience.
• Strong professional embedded Linux development experience on ARM-based products.
• Advanced C skills and hands-on experience reading or modifying Linux kernel or driver code.
• Practical camera or media-pipeline experience with V4L2, CSI-2, media-controller concepts, buffer management, or closely related systems.
• Experience with hardware video encoders, V4L2 M2M, vendor VPUs, or another embedded encode path.
• Experience with Buildroot, Yocto, or a comparable embedded Linux build system.
• A quantitative approach to latency, throughput, profiling, and regression detection.
• Methodical debugging across hardware and software using tools such as ftrace, perf, oscilloscopes, or logic analyzers.
• Able to work on-site in Kanata, Ontario.

Nice to Have

• TI K3-family, AM6x, or J7x experience, or deep experience with another vendor BSP.
• GStreamer development, especially low-latency pipelines or custom elements.
• Streaming security, AEAD ciphers, hardware crypto acceleration, or key-management integration.
• RTP or UDP transport design, forward-error correction, lossy-network behaviour, monitor mode, or raw 802.11 work.
• Board bring-up, DDR or boot-media debugging, FPGA familiarity, or real-time systems experience.
• Experience in UAVs, robotics, defence, video links, broadcast, automotive cameras, or edge-video products.

What Will Make You Successful

• You profile first and optimize from evidence.
• You can debug across the kernel, camera pipeline, board, and network rather than treating them as separate systems.
• You build tools and tests that make system behaviour visible to the rest of the team.
• You take ownership from first bring-up through field reliability.
• You communicate complex technical findings clearly across disciplines.

What We Offer

• Meaningful ownership of technically challenging work from architecture through validation and production.
• Direct access to the hardware, lab equipment, and teammates needed to solve problems quickly.
• A small, multidisciplinary environment where your work is visible and your technical judgement matters.
• Competitive compensation, benefits, and equity participation.

Employment Details

Type: Full-time. This posting is for an existing, open vacancy.

Location: On-site in Kanata, ON

Compensation: $110,000-130,000 plus equity and benefits, based on experience and fit for the role.

Security clearance: Some roles are conditional on the ability to obtain and maintain the required security clearance.

Use of AI in hiring: We may use AI tools to help with parts of our hiring process, such as reviewing applications, screening resumes, and evaluating candidate responses. These tools support our team, but people make all hiring decisions. AI is used to assist, not replace, human judgment.

Remote Robotic Systems is an equal opportunity employer. If you require accommodation during the recruitment process, please let us know.