Lead Embedded Software Engineer, C

Cirrus Selection Limited; Gloucester; On-site; GBP 62,000 - 73,000; Full time

Job summary

Cirrus Selection Limited in Bristol is seeking a Lead Embedded Software Engineer to shape architecture and drive delivery of safety-critical embedded software for aerospace and defence projects.

You will mentor engineers, lead technical work packages, and interface with customers, while coding in C and C++ on RTOS, and supporting DO-178C certification.

Qualifications

• Strong experience in C and C++ for embedded software systems.
• Proven track record developing software to interface with and control hardware.
• Experience across the full software lifecycle from requirements through verification and validation.
• Familiar with DOORS, Jama or Polarion.

Responsibilities

• Split role between hands-on delivery and technical leadership.
• Mentor less experienced engineers and lead the technical delivery of work packages.
• Represent the software discipline directly with customers.
• Work on embedded and GUI software in C/C++ and RTOS; support DO-178C and related standards.

Skills

C/C++ embedded

Embedded software

Software architecture

Tools

DOORS

Jama

Polarion

Job description

Lead Embedded Software Engineer, C++

Based in Bristol

Salary from 62,000 to 72,500, dependent on experience

If you've spent years writing embedded C and C++ for systems where the software actually has to work, not just pass a demo, this is worth five minutes of your time.

You’ll be developing safety-critical embedded software for aerospace and defence applications, working across GUI and embedded software packages, and you’ll have genuine influence over architecture and design decisions rather than just implementing someone else’s. This is a small, highly capable engineering team, so your input carries weight from day one.

The role splits between hands-on delivery and technical leadership. You’ll mentor less experienced engineers, lead the technical delivery of work packages, and represent the software discipline directly with customers. You’ll also stay close to the code, working on embedded and GUI software in C and C++, RTOS environments, and supporting certification activity against DO-178C and similar standards.

This isn’t a role where you’ll be stuck maintaining one system for the next five years. You’ll work across customer projects and internal product development, and you’ll be comfortable moving between consultancy and product environments.

What you’ll need:

• Strong experience in C and C++ for embedded software systems
• Proven track record developing software to interface with and control hardware
• Comfortable working across the full software development lifecycle, from requirements through to verification and validation
• Experience with requirements management tools such as DOORS, Jama or Polarion
• Confident working across multiple projects at once, and able to pick up and improve legacy code
• Due to the nature of the projects involved, you’ll need to be a UK national for security clearance purposes

Nice to have, not essential:

• C# .NET and PC GUI development in Visual Studio
• Static code analysis (MISRA C/C++) and unit testing tools such as LDRA
• MATLAB/Simulink experience
• Familiarity with Azure DevOps, Git or Bitbucket
• RTOS experience with QNX
• Socket programming or UDP comms
• Previous experience leading a small software team