Lead Embedded Software Engineer - Aircraft Systems

MANNA; Leinster; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Manna is building aviation-grade drones to deliver food and goods, applying embedded and robotics software to high‑speed, safety‑critical systems. As Lead Software Engineer on the Aircraft team, you will define long‑term architecture, direct multi‑project delivery, and mentor senior engineers across the software organization.

You will bridge deep embedded work with system-level strategy, standards, and cross‑team collaboration to ensure reliable, scalable aircraft software.

Qualifications

• 8–12+ years of professional software engineering experience in embedded, robotics, or safety-critical systems.
• Deep expertise in C++ and Embedded C/C++; strong Python experience beneficial.
• Track record defining architecture across complex, hardware-adjacent software environments.
• Demonstrated technical leadership across multiple projects, including architecture direction and delivery outcomes.
• Experience in safety-critical domains such as aviation, aerospace, robotics, automotive, or industrial systems.
• Strong debugging across software/hardware boundaries and mentoring experience.
• Experience with autonomy, avionics, drones, robotics, or real-time control systems; familiarity with flight stacks.

Responsibilities

• Define the architecture for aircraft onboard software and supporting firmware.
• Set standards for reliability, performance, and scalability across aircraft systems.
• Contribute to architectural decisions spanning multiple teams (e.g., Aircraft Airspace QA).
• Lead design reviews for critical components, ensuring safe deployment.
• Ensure roadmap execution balancing near-term needs with long-term health.
• Own risk management, rollout strategy, incident learnings, and continuous improvement.
• Partner with Hardware, Autonomy, Operations, and Aviation stakeholders; mentor engineers.
• Provide day-to-day technical leadership and support hiring/onboarding.

Skills

C++

Embedded C/C++

Python

Architecture direction

Technical leadership

Safety-critical domains

ROS/ROS2

ArduPilot/PX4

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

ArduPilot/PX4

ROS/ROS2

Job description

Manna is building aviation-grade drones to deliver food and goods, applying embedded and robotics software to high‑speed, safety‑critical systems. As Lead Software Engineer on the Aircraft team, you will define long‑term architecture, direct multi‑project delivery, and mentor senior engineers across the software organization.

You will bridge deep embedded work with system-level strategy, standards, and cross‑team collaboration to ensure reliable, scalable aircraft software.