Embedded Software Engineer

Leidos LLC; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 87,000 - 157,000; Full time

Job summary

Leidos in San Diego, CA seeks an Embedded Software Engineer to design, develop, and integrate software with hardware for advanced embedded systems. You will work with multidisciplinary teams across systems engineering, hardware, and RF front-end design to deliver real-time solutions.

Responsibilities include writing C/C++ for DSP/ARM/RISC-V, bare metal to Linux, building test plans, and contributing to unit tests and documentation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field and 4+ years of embedded software development.
• Strong experience with C/C++ for embedded systems and Linux environments.
• Familiarity with version control (Git/Subversion) and CI tools.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop advanced embedded software for diverse architectures (DSP, ARM, RISCV).
• Integrate software with hardware and perform HW/SW co-design verification.
• Create test plans, perform testing, and document software requirements and performance.

Skills

C/C++

Embedded Systems

Linux

Git/Subversion

CI/CD

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer/Electrical/CS

Master’s Degree (bonus)

Tools

VS Code

Eclipse

GCC

CMake

Job description

Today, Electronic Warfare is a growing enterprise - protecting the warfighter and our national security against ever-adapting threats. Our Electronic Warfare division currently has an exciting opportunity for an Embedded Software Engineer to perform design, development, and hardware/software integration in San Diego, CA. Leidos is a DOD leader in electronic design and chiplet manufacture. Our division primarily focuses on research & development and advanced prototyping, transforming state-of-the-art processing algorithms into real-time software systems. Projects involve small multi-disciplinary teams of engineers working together in spiral or agile development environments to meet aggressive customer schedules aimed at near-term field demonstrations. Leidos utilizes its proprietary design methodology for hardware software co-design to manufacture custom SoC and IP for high performance applications.

Responsibilities

• Contributing to the design and development of advanced embedded systems as a part of multidisciplinary teams. These teams are made up of other software team members and subject matter experts from the areas of systems engineering, hardware, firmware, RF front-end design, and signal processing.
• Developing software for a variety of microarchitectures, including DSP, ARM, or RISC-V
• Developing software for multi-core embedded systems ranging from bare metal to minimal real-time operating systems to Linux environments
• Reading and comprehending datasheets to understand expected hardware operation
• Building and documenting test plans, test procedures, and software requirements specifications
• Writing low level code (e.g. C) to interface with Control Status Registers (CSRs) and hardware components
• Writing software to validate hardware performance and operation under nominal and stress conditions
• Building software using test driven development (TDD) methodologies
• Documenting software performance results against key performance requirements for data-plane and control-plane processing
• Understanding software use in high-level system design for real time software in operational systems
• Clearly communicating technical details of software APIs and test results to internal and external engineers

Basic Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or Computer Science, or related discipline
• 4+ years of software development experience, including strong experience in C/C++ software development for embedded systems
• Experience using Integrated Development Environments (e.g. VS Code, Eclipse)
• Experience with build tools (e.g. GCC, CMake, or Make)
• Strong understanding of hardware-software interaction and basic computer architecture (e.g. Stack, Heap, Pointers)
• Experience with version control systems (e.g. Git, Subversion) and continuous integration software tools (e.g. Jenkins)
• Experience with software testing tools and methodologies
• Experience in creating and maintaining technical documentation for developed software
• Ability to communicate and share ideas, concepts, and designs with a team of engineers
• Understanding of unit test frameworks and test-driven development practices
• Comfortable working in Linux development environments
• Demonstrated ability and motivation to continually learn new technical skills and concepts

Bonus Education and Experience

• Master’s Degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent
• Active security clearance higher than the Secret level
• Experience with other programming languages such as Python, MATLAB, or another OOP language
• Ability to debug embedded systems using tools like oscilloscopes and logic analyzers
• Experience developing drivers for hardware interfaces (e.g. GPIO, I2C, SPI, UART, PCIe)
• Experience with multiple embedded instruction set architectures (e.g. ESP32, Raspberry PI, Arduino, RISCV)
• Experience using hardware debugging software and tools such as OpenOCD, J-Link, or SEGGER NKE

Security Clearance

• Must have active Secret level security clearance with the ability to obtain a TS/SCI

Pay Range

$87,100.00 - $157,450.00

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.

Pay and Benefits

Pay and benefits are fundamental to any career decision. That's why we craft compensation packages that reflect the importance of the work we do for our customers.

Employment benefits include competitive compensation, Health and Wellness programs, Income Protection, Paid Leave and retirement.

More details are available here.

Securing Your Data

Leidos will never ask you to provide payment-related information at any part of the employment application process. And Leidos will communicate with you only through emails that are sent from a Leidos.com email address. If you receive an email purporting to be from Leidos that asks for payment-related information or any other personal information, please report the email to [e-mail].

Commitment and Diversity

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Leidos will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with relevant laws.

Company Information

Leidos is an industry and technology leader serving government and commercial customers with smarter, more efficient digital and mission innovations. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with 47,000 global employees, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $17.2 billion for the fiscal year ended January 2, 2026. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.