Embedded Software Engineer

Thermopylae Aerospace; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Thermopylae Aerospace Corporation seeks an Embedded Software Engineer to build and optimize the embedded stack for our guidance systems. You will implement GNC algorithms on constrained hardware, integrate external sensors, and move flight software from prototype to production-ready code.

Collaborating with GNC, Electrical, and Mechanical teams, you will work at the intersection of real-time software, control theory, and hardware.

Qualifications

• 3+ years hands-on embedded software development experience.
• Strong proficiency in C/C++ for bare-metal or RTOS environments.
• Experience developing and debugging software on microcontrollers and constrained compute platforms.
• Solid fundamentals in control systems, numerical methods, and sensor fusion.
• Hands-on experience integrating sensors and working across hardware–software boundary.
• Ability to profile, optimize, and debug performance-critical code.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, ambiguous early-stage environment with high ownership and a bias to action.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate closely with GNC and hardware engineers.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and debug the embedded software stack for guidance and flight control systems.
• Implement, optimize, and validate GNC algorithms on resource-constrained microcontrollers and processors.
• Integrate and calibrate external sensors (IMUs, GNSS, magnetometers, optical, RF, and others) into the flight software.
• Develop and maintain real-time, deterministic software with a focus on reliability, latency, and computational efficiency.
• Prototype, test, and iterate rapidly on hardware, including bring-up, debugging, and flight testing support.
• Collaborate closely with GNC engineers to translate algorithms into efficient, robust embedded implementations.
• Support system-level integration, blackbox analysis, and continuous improvement of the flight software stack.
• Contribute to software architecture decisions that enable future scalability and maintainability.

Skills

Embedded software

C/C++

Real-time systems

Sensor fusion

Debugging

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's/MS/PhD in CS/EE/Aerospace or equiv.

Tools

RTOS

Microcontrollers

Bare-metal

Job description

Thermopylae Aerospace Corporation is an early-stage company building air defense infrastructure to protect assets, critical facilities, and the people underneath them. Threats keep getting faster and more numerous, while the systems meant to stop them cost far more per engagement than the things they are shooting down. No amount of incremental improvement to a legacy architecture fixes an inverted cost curve.

So we are building it from scratch. New vehicles, more effective propulsion, novel guidance primitives, built for the threats that are coming and made by the thousand instead of by hand. Since starting in August 2025, we moved into our first facility in Hawthorne, built our first unique interceptor platform, and started intercepting our first targets in front of customers. We incentivize automation, experiments, and essential intelligence, with a strong emphasis on caring deeply about the work you do.

The Role:

We are seeking an Embedded Software Engineer to develop, debug, and optimize the embedded software stack that runs our guidance systems. You will implement and refine GNC algorithms on constrained compute platforms, integrate external sensors, and take flight software from prototype to reliable, production-ready code. Working closely with the GNC, Electrical, and Mechanical teams, you will operate at the intersection of real-time software, control theory, and hardware. This is a high-ownership role for an engineer with strong fundamentals who can deliver high-performance embedded software under real-world constraints.

Your Responsibilities:

• Design, implement, and debug the embedded software stack for guidance and flight control systems.
• Implement, optimize, and validate GNC algorithms on resource-constrained microcontrollers and processors.
• Integrate and calibrate external sensors (IMUs, GNSS, magnetometers, optical, RF, and others) into the flight software.
• Develop and maintain real-time, deterministic software with a focus on reliability, latency, and computational efficiency.
• Prototype, test, and iterate rapidly on hardware, including bring-up, debugging, and flight testing support.
• Collaborate closely with GNC engineers to translate algorithms into efficient, robust embedded implementations.
• Support system-level integration, blackbox analysis, and continuous improvement of the flight software stack.
• Contribute to software architecture decisions that enable future scalability and maintainability.

We are looking for:

• Bachelor’s/MS/PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent, with 3+ years of hands‑on experience in embedded software development.
• Strong proficiency in C/C++ for bare-metal or RTOS environments, with a solid understanding of real‑time systems.
• Experience developing and debugging software on microcontrollers and constrained compute platforms.
• Solid fundamentals in control systems, numerical methods, and sensor fusion.
• Hands‑on experience integrating sensors and working across the hardware–software boundary.
• Ability to profile, optimize, and debug performance‑critical code under tight resource constraints.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast‑paced, ambiguous early‑stage environment with high ownership and a bias to action.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate closely with GNC and hardware engineers.
• Nice to have: Experience with custom Betaflight, ArduPilot, PX4, or similar flight control stacks.
• Nice to have: Experience with Rust or Zig programming languages.
• Preference for experience with UAVs, interceptors, rockets, or other high‑reliability flight systems.