Senior Embedded Software Engineer (C/C++, Rust) – Defence

Neptune North; Newcastle upon Tyne; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday

Pension contributions up to 6%

Private health insurance

Discretionary bonus

Job summary

Neptune North seeks a Senior Software Engineer to lead low-level and embedded development on defence projects, providing technical oversight to a growing team. You will shape systems engineering capabilities and ensure high-quality deliverables through hands-on involvement.

Responsibilities include business development, mentoring, and contributing to proposals, with projects spanning embedded, real-time and resource-constrained platforms.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years employment experience delivering and/or overseeing low-level, embedded or real‑time software.
• Excellent programming skills in C++ or Rust.
• Experience of embedded, real‑time or resource‑constrained environments with peripheral interfaces such as SPI, I2C, UART and CAN bus.
• Experience developing for industrial computing platforms, single-board computers or real-time operating systems.
• Experience of high-assurance engineering practices, such as safety-related standards or secure development lifecycles.
• Experience of high-performance computing, low-latency systems, or performance profiling and optimisation.
• Linux or macOS development, including low-level toolchain and build system knowledge.
• Experience with end-to-end software engineering workflows (requirements, design, development, testing, deployment, maintenance).
• Experience integrating AI-assisted tools into development workflows without compromising quality, security or compliance.
• Strong understanding of software engineering processes and best practices.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and ability to adapt communication to audience.
• Experience working effectively in a team and commitment to knowledge-sharing.
• Strong academic foundations (first-class or 2:1 in CS/Engineering/Physics/Mathematics).
• Ability to work with ambiguity while remaining outcome-focused.
• Experience in defence or national security is a strong plus.
• Experience writing technical proposals or bids is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Influence the technical direction and strengthen Neptune North’s low-level and embedded capabilities.
• Provide leadership and hands-on delivery in a wide range of systems projects.
• Set and maintain technical direction, architecture and standards, and balance speed, quality and maintainability.
• Lead code and design reviews, set quality bar and enforce it.
• Work directly with clients to shape requirements and build trust.
• Assist in winning work by helping to write compelling bids and technical proposals.
• Adapt to evolving company priorities and take on aligned work.
• Promote knowledge sharing and reuse of capabilities across the team.
• Mentor engineers to build a high-calibre engineering team.

Skills

C++

Rust

Embedded systems

Real-time

Linux development

Verbal communication

Team collaboration

Proposals

Education

First-class or 2:1 degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

SPI

I2C

UART

CAN bus

Job description

Neptune North seeks a Senior Software Engineer to lead low-level and embedded development on defence projects, providing technical oversight to a growing team. You will shape systems engineering capabilities and ensure high-quality deliverables through hands-on involvement.

Responsibilities include business development, mentoring, and contributing to proposals, with projects spanning embedded, real-time and resource-constrained platforms.