Flight-Ready Embedded Systems Engineer (C/Rust)

Umbra; Santa Barbara (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible Time Off

Medical, Dental, Vision

Stock Options

Free Parking

Free Lunch

Job summary

Umbra is seeking an Embedded Systems Engineer to advance mission-critical satellite systems from prototype to flight-ready hardware. You will collaborate with electrical, software, and systems engineers to build and validate embedded solutions on real hardware.

The role emphasizes bare-metal development, firmware integration, and contributing to tooling, with on-site work in our Santa Barbara/Goleta, CA office. Strong C/Rust, SPI/UART, and hardware bring-up experience are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of professional experience in embedded systems or firmware development.
• Experience developing and debugging embedded communication and control interfaces, including SPI, UART/SCI (e.g., RS-485), and GPIO/interrupts.
• Strong proficiency in embedded C and/or Rust programming.
• Experience working with bare-metal microcontrollers.
• Hands-on experience with hardware bring-up and debugging on physical systems.
• Ability to read and interpret electrical schematics and data sheets.
• Experience with debugging tools such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and debuggers (e.g., JTAG/SWD).
• Experience with system integration and verification.
• Experience with version control systems (e.g., Git) and collaborative development workflows.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to execute independently.
• Effective communication and ability to work in a cross-functional team environment.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and debug low-level drivers (SPI, UART/RS-485, GPIO, timers, interrupts).
• Participate in code reviews and MR support, ensuring code quality and maintainability.
• Contribute to architecture/design documentation (e.g., RFCs, ADRs, timing diagrams, interface definitions).
• Develop embedded firmware in C and Rust for bare-metal and RTOS-based microcontroller systems.
• Bring up and debug hardware systems, including board-level validation and peripheral integration.
• Support system integration and verification across avionics, radios, and other spacecraft subsystems.
• Define and execute test plans for firmware and hardware validation.
• Troubleshoot issues across firmware, hardware, and system interfaces.
• Contribute to shared firmware infrastructure, including HALs, drivers, and reusable libraries.
• Improve development workflows through contributions to repository structure, CI/CD, and test infrastructure.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with electrical, systems, and flight software engineers.
• Document designs, test procedures, and debugging processes to ensure repeatability and reliability.
• Support test campaigns and mission-critical milestones as needed.

Skills

Embedded C

Rust

SPI

UART

GPIO

Bare-metal

RTOS

Hardware bring-up

Git

Debugging tools

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field

Tools

JTAG/SWD

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Multimeter

HAL development

Job description

Umbra is seeking an Embedded Systems Engineer to advance mission-critical satellite systems from prototype to flight-ready hardware. You will collaborate with electrical, software, and systems engineers to build and validate embedded solutions on real hardware.

The role emphasizes bare-metal development, firmware integration, and contributing to tooling, with on-site work in our Santa Barbara/Goleta, CA office. Strong C/Rust, SPI/UART, and hardware bring-up experience are essential.