Senior Embedded Systems Engineer — Real-Time & HW/SW Lead

Kratos Defense and Security Solutions; Huntsville (AL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance

Life/ADD & Short/Long Term Disability

401(k) Savings Plan

Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)

Paid Time-Off (PTO)

Holidays

Education Reimbursement

Job summary

Kratos Defense Rocket Support Services is seeking a senior embedded systems engineer to design, develop, integrate, and validate advanced embedded software and hardware systems for mission-critical applications. This role requires deep experience with real-time processing, embedded firmware, sensor integration, and software architecture in constrained environments.

The senior engineer will collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams, support program execution through requirements analysis,

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional embedded software and systems engineering.
• Strong experience in C/C++ and real-time firmware development.
• Experience with RTOS such as QNX and low-level hardware interaction.
• Background with microcontrollers, DSPs, and embedded processor architectures.
• Experience with communication interfaces (UART, SPI, I2C, Ethernet, RF links).
• Knowledge of FPGA interaction and hardware abstraction.
• Ability to produce design artifacts and verification plans.
• Experience with sensor integration and data acquisition systems.
• Proven problem-solving and collaboration across disciplines.

Responsibilities

• Develop embedded software architectures, firmware, and real-time control logic for sensor-driven and mission-critical systems.
• Design, implement, and debug device drivers, communication protocols, and interfaces (UART, SPI, I2C, Ethernet, RF).
• Integrate embedded applications with hardware components (MCUs, DSPs, FPGAs, sensors, actuators).
• Develop and maintain real-time software in bare-metal, RTOS-based, or Linux-based environments.
• Implement state machines, control loops, data acquisition, and system-level embedded behaviors.
• Support system-level integration including hardware bring-up, interface verification, troubleshooting, and performance tuning.
• Develop tools, scripts, and build systems to support firmware deployment and cross-compilation.
• Perform analysis, simulation, and testing to ensure robustness and timing under diverse conditions.
• Lead investigations, root-cause analyses, and corrective actions for embedded issues.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams on requirements, trade studies, architecture, and reviews.
• Prepare technical documentation and test reports; mentor junior engineers.

Skills

Embedded C/C++

RTOS

Device drivers

Sensor integration

FPGA interaction

Firmware development

Cross-functional collaboration

Build systems

Education

Electrical Engineering / Computer Engineering (Bachelor's or Master’s)

Embedded Systems specialization

Tools

QNX

GCC / cross-compilers

FPGA tooling

Git / version control

Job description

Kratos Defense Rocket Support Services is seeking a senior embedded systems engineer to design, develop, integrate, and validate advanced embedded software and hardware systems for mission-critical applications. This role requires deep experience with real-time processing, embedded firmware, sensor integration, and software architecture in constrained environments.

The senior engineer will collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams, support program execution through requirements analysis,