Firmware Engineer - Flight Software

Neros Technologies; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 145,500 - 204,000; Full time

Job summary

Neros is seeking a Firmware Engineer on the Flight Software team to develop flight-critical firmware for our unmanned systems. You will move from code to bench to flight test, delivering reliable flight modes and vehicle integrations across products.

Join a fast, hands-on team focused on safety and performance. You should have strong embedded C skills, experience with a flight stack (PX4 or Betaflight), and a track record debugging hardware problems in field conditions.

Qualifications

• Strong embedded C on resource-constrained microcontrollers.
• Hands-on experience with a flight stack — PX4, Betaflight, or similar.
• Working grasp of flight-control fundamentals: control loops, filtering, and state estimates.

Responsibilities

• Implement flight modes and control features — position and altitude hold, safety and degradation behavior.
• Port and tune sensors and control algorithms across flight stacks, preserving flight feel.
• Build vehicle-side datalink and payload integrations for new platform variants.
• Instrument the vehicle, run bench and flight-test iterations, and debug issues that arise in flight.
• Write unit and integration tests for firmware, partnering with Test on SITL/HITL and flight-test execution.

Skills

Embedded C

Flight stack

Sensor fusion

Hardware debugging

End-to-end ownership

Test discipline

Job description

Neros is a defense technology company rebuilding America’s drone industrial base. We design and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are tested in combat, iterated at startup speed, and built at massive scale. Our team culture is fast, hands‑on, and obsessed with closing the gap between design and deployment.

As drones transform the character of warfare, Neros is delivering the systems the West needs to compete on the modern battlefield and deter the adversaries of democracy. We’re hiring engineers, operators, and builders who want to move fast, take on extreme ownership, and get capability into the hands of warfighters in months, not years.

What you will be doing

Neros builds first‑person‑view drones for the modern battlefield. As a Firmware Engineer on the Flight Software team, you will build the flight‑critical firmware that flies the aircraft — flight modes, control algorithms, and the vehicle‑side integrations they depend on — across our entire range of products. Your work goes from code to bench to flight test, and what you ship flies in the field.

Responsibilities

• Implement flight modes and control features — position and altitude hold, and the safety and degradation behavior around them
• Port and tune sensors and control algorithms across flight stacks (Betaflight, PX4), preserving flight feel that expert pilots depend on
• Build vehicle‑side datalink and payload integrations for new platform variants
• Instrument the vehicle, run bench and flight‑test iterations, and debug issues that only reproduce in flight
• Write the unit and integration tests for your firmware, partnering with our Test organization on SITL/HITL and flight‑test execution

You should have the following

• Strong embedded C on resource‑constrained microcontrollers — you have shipped firmware that runs on real hardware in the field
• Hands‑on experience with a flight stack — PX4, Betaflight, or similar — on vehicles that actually flew
• Working grasp of flight‑control fundamentals: control loops, filtering, and how sensors (IMU, baro, GPS) become state estimates
• Track record of debugging hardware‑coupled problems — failures that only reproduce on the bench or in flight, not in a debugger
• Able to own a problem end to end with light direction — from ambiguous goal to flying firmware
• Test discipline appropriate to safety‑relevant firmware

Nice to have

• Datalink, tunneling, or networking‑protocol work on embedded systems
• Betaflight internals experience — modes, RC/mixer path, or a maintained fork
• Counter‑UAS, radar‑guided, or interceptor‑adjacent systems exposure or interest
• Estimation depth (EKF/complementary filters, sensor fusion)
• Depth in the PX4 ecosystem — MAVLink, uORB, EKF2, offboard/companion‑computer integration, QGroundControl tooling
• You fly — FPV, racing, or fixed‑wing RC

US Salary Range

$145,500 – $204,000 USD

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are considered part of Neros' total compensation package.

We’re an equal opportunity employer. We welcome all applicants without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

Export Compliance:The person hired will have access to information and items controlled by the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), and, therefore, must be a "U.S. Person" or otherwise eligible to receive an export license. As defined in the ITAR, a “U.S. Person” includes U.S. citizens, noncitizen U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents (i.e., Green Card holders), and certain other classes of individuals (e.g., asylees/refugees). Please consult with a knowledgeable advisor if you are unsure whether you are a “U.S. Person.” To assist Neros in assessing its export compliance obligations in relation to your application, please identify which statement best applies to you: