Firmware Engineer

Elveo; Chantilly (VA); On-site; USD 95,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

Elveo is seeking a Firmware Engineer to develop bare-metal and RTOS firmware for spacecraft microcontrollers, supporting payload and bus subsystems. You will bring up new boards, implement drivers, and define interfaces with our Linux-based flight software.

You'll work on a small, experienced team focused on robustness and rapid iteration, with testing on flatsat hardware and in CI pipelines. Experience with robotics, drones, or industrial controls is welcome; ITAR rules apply.

Qualifications

• Proficiency in C for embedded systems demonstrated by work or projects.
• Experience with microcontrollers (ARM Cortex-M) and peripherals via SPI/I2C/UART.
• Bachelor's degree or higher in a related engineering field or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Develop bare-metal and RTOS firmware for microcontrollers across spacecraft subsystems.
• Create drivers for onboard peripherals and hardware abstraction layers.
• Collaborate with Electrical Engineering on schematic reviews and bring-up.
• Implement CAN, I2C, SPI, UART interfaces and communications.
• Design fault-tolerant software with watchdogs and reset handling.
• Develop tests and integrate firmware into CI pipelines.
• Support flatsat testing and on-orbit operations as needed.
• Document firmware designs and interfaces clearly.

Skills

Embedded C

ARM Cortex-M

Hardware bring-up

RTOS development

Unit testing

Git & CI/CD

Schematic reading

Lab instrumentation

Python scripting

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer, Electrical, Software, Aerospace, or related engineering field

Tools

Oscilloscopes

Logic Analyzers

JTAG/SWD

CAN interface

Ethernet

SPI

I2C

UART

Job description

About Elveo

Elveo is what happens when two pioneers in direct-to-device (D2D) communications join forces. Elveo brings together a combined 20 years of expertise to close the coverage gap for more than 50 mobile network operators (MNOs) and major distribution partners operating in 60+ countries worldwide.

That heritage and our technology powers what we call ‘elevated intelligence’ — a new approach that processes and adapts on orbit, delivering voice and data services straight to mobile users, IoT devices and machines across enterprise, government and humanitarian sectors worldwide.

As a team, we’re on a mission to deliver powerful compute and connectivity directly to individuals and objects everywhere on Earth.

Join us, and become part of a globally inclusive company that is transforming satellite communications from a niche service to an essential global infrastructure, and democratizing connectivity for billions worldwide.

Ready to take the next step? Join us.

About the Role

The Firmware Engineer at Elveo will develop the bare-metal and RTOS firmware that runs on the microcontrollers throughout our satellites — in the D2D communications payload and across the spacecraft bus. This role sits squarely between our Flight Software and Electrical Engineering teams: you will bring up new boards alongside the engineers who designed them, write the drivers and control loops that make that hardware useful, and define the interfaces that our Linux-based flight software uses to command and monitor it. The firmware will be developed and tested on lab hardware and on our "flatsat," a satellite prototype that simulates orbit operations, before it flies.

We build spacecraft fast! So, the ideal candidate enjoys taking a board from first power-on to flight-ready firmware on rapid timelines, and is equally comfortable reading a schematic, probing a bus with a logic analyzer, and reviewing a pull request. Firmware on orbit can only be fixed over a radio link, so we value engineers who design for robustness and recoverability from the start. This is a small team, so you will work alongside experienced engineers and take ownership of systems early.

Experience with satellites is not a requirement for this position. If you've shipped firmware for robotics, automotive, drones, medical devices, industrial controls, or similar, you'll find much of your experience translates directly. Title, scope, and compensation scale with experience.

Core Responsibilities

You will design, develop, and test embedded firmware for microcontroller-based subsystems across the spacecraft, including payload control, power, and attitude sensing and actuation electronics. This includes:

• Developing bare-metal and RTOS firmware for microcontrollers, including device drivers, peripheral configuration, interrupt handling, and hardware abstraction layers.
• Partnering with Electrical Engineering through schematic and design reviews, board bring-up, and debug of new hardware revisions.
• Implementing communication with satellite devices and electronics using CAN, I2C, SPI, UART, RS-422, RS-485, and other protocols.
• Defining and implementing the command, telemetry, and data interfaces between microcontroller firmware and Elveo's flight software.
• Building bootloaders and firmware update mechanisms that can be safely exercised over a low-bandwidth radio link, with fallback images and recovery paths.
• Designing for fault tolerance on orbit: watchdogs, brown-out and reset handling, memory protection and error detection, and graceful degradation.
• Debugging hardware/firmware integration issues using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, JTAG/SWD debuggers, and other lab equipment.
• Developing unit, hardware-in-the-loop, and flatsat tests for firmware, and integrating them into our CI pipelines.
• Participating in design and code reviews, and documenting firmware designs, interfaces, and test procedures.
• Supporting spacecraft integration, environmental testing, and on-orbit operations as needed.

Basic Qualifications

• Proficiency in C for embedded systems, demonstrated through professional work, significant academic/personal projects, or open-source contributions.
• Experience developing firmware for microcontrollers (e.g., ARM Cortex-M), including drivers for on-chip peripherals and external devices over SPI, I2C, UART, ethernet, CAN , etc.
• Hands-on board bring-up and debug: reading schematics and datasheets, and using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and JTAG/SWD debuggers.
• Experience designing interrupt-driven, real-time firmware, either bare-metal or on an RTOS.
• Experience writing automated tests for firmware you build and working with Git and CI/CD.
• A bachelor's degree or higher in Computer, Electrical, Software, Aerospace, or related engineering field, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience writing bootloaders and in-field or over-the-air firmware update systems.
• Experience working in small teams with a high degree of project ownership
• Familiarity with radiation effects on electronics and their mitigations (e.g., EDAC/ECC, memory scrubbing, latch-up protection, redundancy).
• Familiarity with embedded Linux and how microcontroller firmware interfaces with a Linux host.
• Experience with FPGAs or mixed-signal electronics, including ADC/DAC interfacing.
• Experience developing and testing hardware for SmallSats / CubeSats.
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop integration and testing.
• Scripting experience in Python for test automation and lab tooling.

ITAR Requirements

To comply with U.S. Government export control regulations (ITAR), applicants must be one of the following: (i) a U.S. citizen or national, (ii) a lawful permanent resident (green card holder), (iii) a refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) an asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158. Individuals who do not meet these criteria must be eligible to obtain the necessary authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Learn about ITAR here: https://www.pmddtc.state.gov

Job Location

Chantilly, VA