Embedded Linux Software Team Lead: Real-Time & Security

Firestorm; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) Retirement Savings Plan

Equity grants

Unlimited PTO

Holiday calendar

Parental Leave

Lifestyle Spending Account

FSA

DCFSA

HSA

Hospital Indemnity insurance

Critical Illness insurance

Job summary

Firestorm in San Diego seeks an Embedded Linux Software Team Lead to guide the Flight Systems Software team and deliver Linux-based services for media, radio, and SDK workloads. You will balance management with hands-on development in modern C++ and REST APIs.

You’ll collaborate with autonomy, avionics, and applications groups, implement secure, deterministic code, and shape platform architecture while ensuring security, performance, and field readiness.

Qualifications

• U.S. Citizenship and the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance.
• Bachelor’s in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in embedded systems and Linux development in modern C/C++.
• 2+ years of experience leading a team with people management.
• Proven experience creating and maintaining Linux daemons with systemd integration.
• Strong integration background with real-time or mission-critical systems (5+ years).
• Familiarity with defense protocols and data serialization (Protobuf/FlatBuffers).
• Secure coding, dependency hygiene (OpenSSL/libsodium), and fuzzing/sanitizers.
• Cross-platform build/packaging: CMake, Conan/vcpkg; Linux/Windows/Android packaging.

Responsibilities

• Team management, standups, scrummaster, prioritization, and design reviews.
• Collaborate across engineering disciplines for software compatibility with design requirements.
• Design and implement Linux core daemons in modern C++.
• Define REST APIs and deliver packages across Linux, Windows, and Android.
• Own developer experience with samples, quickstarts, wrappers, and docs.
• Engineer for real-time use: deterministic behavior and bounded latency.
• Harden security by default: secure transport, key handling, supply-chain hygiene.
• CI/CD: cross-platform builds, unit/integration tests, fuzzing, sanitizers.
• Contribute to platform architecture and roadmap discussions.
• Support field integrations with diagnostics, tracing, and upgrade playbooks.

Skills

Embedded Linux

C/C++

Team leadership

REST APIs

RTOS/real-time

Linux daemons

Security compliance

Cross-functional collaboration

CI/CD

Diagnostics/telemetry

Education

Bachelor’s in Computer Science/Engineering

Tools

CMake

Conan/vcpkg

MSVC/MinGW

AppImage/MSI

Linux packaging

Job description

Firestorm in San Diego seeks an Embedded Linux Software Team Lead to guide the Flight Systems Software team and deliver Linux-based services for media, radio, and SDK workloads. You will balance management with hands-on development in modern C++ and REST APIs.

You’ll collaborate with autonomy, avionics, and applications groups, implement secure, deterministic code, and shape platform architecture while ensuring security, performance, and field readiness.