Embedded Software Engineer

Procom; Annapolis (MD); On-site; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Procom is seeking an Embedded Software Engineer to advance a research team focused on automotive data extraction and analysis. You will work at the intersection of software and hardware, decoding firmware, bypassing protections, and turning findings into reliable capabilities for forensic tools.

The role emphasizes hands-on hardware work, a strong ability to analyze undocumented systems, and collaboration with cross-functional teams to bring research into product capabilities.

Qualifications

• Minimum 3 years in embedded software, systems, or security.
• Experience with binary analysis and assembly reading.
• Familiar with Linux, QNX, and Android in embedded context.
• Hands-on hardware skills and debug interfaces.
• Experience with embedded buses and device traffic.
• Scripting or programming for parsing/automation.
• Understanding of file systems, encryption, secure-boot concepts.
• Experience with version control best practices.
• Strong analytical abilities and cross-functional collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Extract and analyze firmware and OS software from automotive systems to find artifacts.
• Access devices via hardware/debug interfaces to recover data from protected devices.
• Work with Linux, QNX, and Android embedded systems.
• Bypass device protections to complete analysis where required.
• Decrypt and analyze encrypted databases and storage formats.
• Analyze data to identify artifacts and document findings for forensic use.
• Develop repeatable, forensically sound extraction and decoding methods with documentation.
• Build automation to parse, decode, and validate recovered data at scale.
• Maintain code repository following industry best practices.
• Collaborate with engineers, analysts, and product managers to move research into product capabilities.

Skills

Embedded systems

Binary analysis

Linux

QNX

Android

Hardware skills

Scripting

Data analysis

Version control

Tools

Ghidra

IDA Pro

Linux debuggers

Job description

We are seeking an Embedded Software Engineer to join the research team. The mission of the research team is to discover how vehicle systems store and protect data and to develop extraction and analysis methods that power a collection of vehicle system forensic tools. These tools are used by organizations around the world to gather essential information and investigate critical incidents. This position is well suited to an engineer drawn to complex, undocumented systems who works effectively at the intersection of software and hardware. The successful candidate will analyze how embedded devices operate, recover data from protected or unfamiliar systems, and translate those findings into reliable capabilities our customers depend on. We evaluate candidates on demonstrated technical ability, and welcome strong engineers whether their expertise was built through formal education, professional experience, or the security research community.

As an Embedded Software Engineer your responsibilities will be:

• Extract and analyze embedded firmware and operating system software from automotive systems to discover key artifacts such as data structures, storage formats, and protection mechanisms
• Access embedded devices through hardware and debug interfaces to acquire firmware and memory, and recover data from locked, damaged, or protected devices using appropriate techniques
• Work with embedded operating systems such as Linux, QNX and Android
• Defeat device protections such as secure boot, encryption, obtain ADB and root access to target systems, where required to complete analysis
• Decrypt and analyze encrypted SQL databases and proprietary storage formats to recover and interpret structured data
• Analyze recovered data to identify, correlate, and validate artifacts of interest, and document findings for downstream forensic use
• Develop repeatable, forensically sound extraction and decoding methods and maintain clear documentation of methodologies, target hardware, and attack surfaces
• Build automation to parse, decode, and validate recovered data at scale
• Maintain a code repository in accordance with industry's best practices as directed by leadership
• Collaborate with engineers, analysts, and product managers to prioritize targets and move research into supported product capabilities

As a candidate, your essential skills, qualifications and experience need to include:

• At least 3 years of experience in embedded software, embedded systems, or embedded security
• Experience performing binary analysis, including disassembly and decompilation, and reading assembly on embedded-class architectures
• Familiarity with Linux, QNX and Android based embedded systems and how they store and protect data
• Hands-on hardware skills, including working with debug interfaces, board-level rework, and signal capture
• Familiarity with embedded communication buses and the ability to observe and interpret device traffic
• Proficiency in a scripting or programming language for building parsing and automation tooling
• Solid understanding of file systems, data encoding, encrypted SQL databases, and cryptographic and secure-boot concepts
• Strong analytical and data analysis skills, with the ability to interpret, correlate, and validate data and work through undocumented systems
• Experience maintaining code in a version-controlled repository following established best practices
• Clear communication skills, comfort working cross-functionally, and the ability to travel locally and internationally as needed