Embedded Software Engineer

Doghouse Recruitment; Utrecht; On-site; EUR 43,000 - 72,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension

Hybrid working

25 holiday days

Job summary

Doghouse Recruitment is seeking a software engineer to own components in a hardware-integrated system in Utrecht. You will design and implement in modern C++ (C++17/20), maintain state-machine logic, and integrate evolving hardware into the stack.

You will work across subsystems with DDS pub/sub, debug at software/hardware boundaries, and push architecture improvements while boosting testability with automated verification and Python scripting.

Qualifications

• 4 to 7 years of professional C++ development experience.
• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or a related technical field.
• Strong modern C++ (C++17/20) and proven work on production-level systems.
• Experience structuring code for maintainability, plus automated testing.
• Linux experience and strong debugging skills in complex systems.
• State machines, hardware-software integration, DDS or similar pub/sub, and Python scripting are all a plus.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of software components inside the hardware-integrated system.
• Design and implement in modern C++ (C++17/20) and maintain state-machine-based logic.
• Integrate hardware that is still changing into the existing stack.
• Coordinate communication between subsystems over DDS and debug across software/hardware boundaries.
• Drive improvements in architecture and strengthen testability with automated verification and Python scripting.
• Optimize performance in Linux and real-time environments.

Skills

C++ development

Modern C++

State machines

HW/SW integration

Automated testing

Linux debugging

Git workflows

DDS pub/sub

Python scripting

Collaboration

Education

Master’s degree in CS/EE or related

Tools

Git

DDS

Python scripting

Job description

The product has left the lab and is now in use in a clinical setting. Which changes the job entirely. The software is no longer something to prove, it is something that has to hold up on its own, every time.

My client builds a regulated medical device in Utrecht that combines imaging, robotics and machine learning to carry out a clinical procedure that is done by hand today. The system is distributed across several subsystems, runs on Linux under real-time constraints, and is coordinated by state machine logic that grows every time the hardware changes. The company has moved out of pure development and into deployment, so the work now is architecture, reliability and long-term maintainability rather than new features. You join a multidisciplinary development team and sit alongside hardware engineers, systems engineers and other software developers.

What you’ll do

You take ownership of software components inside the hardware-integrated system. That means designing and implementing in modern C++ (C++17/20), maintaining structured state-machine-based logic, and integrating hardware that is still changing into the existing stack. Communication between subsystems runs over DDS, and a real part of the job is debugging across the software and hardware boundary, where the fault could sit on either side. You will also drive improvements in the existing architecture, strengthen testability with automated verification and Python scripting, and optimise performance in Linux and real-time environments. Technical decisions are made in system-level design discussions, not handed down from above.

Your profile

• 4 to 7 years of professional C++ development experience
• Strong modern C++ (C++17/20) and proven work on production-level systems
• Experience structuring code for maintainability, plus automated testing
• Linux experience and strong debugging skills in complex systems
• Git and collaborative workflows
• State machines, hardware-software integration, DDS or similar pub/sub, and Python scripting are all a plus
• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or a related technical field

What’s in it for you

Up to €72K gross per year including holiday allowance. Pension, hybrid working, 25 holiday days on a full-time contract.