Technical Staff - Embedded Systems Architect

National MS Society; Lexington (MA); On-site; USD 145,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision plans

MIT-funded pension

Matching 401K

Paid leave (vacation, sick, parental,)

Job summary

MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, MA seeks an embedded systems architect to lead the design, development and fielding of embedded systems for space applications. You will contribute to multi-disciplinary teams and tackle advanced research challenges, with occasional travel to sponsor events.

The ideal candidate has experience in FPGA, microcontroller design, and system integration, plus strong communication skills and the ability to work across hardware and software disciplines.

Qualifications

• Master's or PhD in electrical/computer engineering with 8 years of experience.
• In lieu of the above, bachelor's degree or equivalent and at least 10 years of relevant experience will be considered.
• Experience decomposing processing chains into component modules for development.
• Experience developing synthesizable VHDL, Verilog, and/or SystemVerilog.
• Experience implementing FPGA designs in hardware, including constraint files.
• Experience testing and debugging firmware designs in simulation and hardware.
• Experience integrating with digital interfaces such as SPI, PCIe and Gigabit Ethernet.
• Laboratory experience, including interface debugging and verification at circuit-card assembly level.
• Digital signal processing experience in analysis or implementation.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, development and fielding of embedded systems for space applications.
• Contribute to multi-disciplinary research teams and solve technical challenges.
• Travel occasionally for field exercises, sponsor presentations, and events.

Skills

Embedded systems

System architecture

Microcontroller design

Runtime optimization

Linux development

Python scripting

C/C++

FPGA design

Verilog/VHDL/SystemVerilog

Laboratory testing

Education

Master's degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering

PhD in Electrical/Computer Engineering

Bachelor's degree +10 years relevant experience

Tools

Schematic capture

Layout and bring-up

SPI/PCIe/Gigabit Ethernet interfaces

Job description

Technical Staff - Embedded Systems Architect

Date: Sep 17, 2026

Location: Lexington, MA, US

Company: MIT Lincoln Laboratory

The Electronics for Contested Space Group develops advanced electronic systems and technology for the protection of our Nation's most important space capabilities. We design and develop state-of-the-art satellites and satellite payloads, novel concepts for resilient space architectures, and the Nation's most sensitive radars, optics, and passive RF systems. The group also provides engineering rigor and experience to some of the most critical National Security programs through Laboratory-wide collaboration and acts in an advisory capacity to the U.S. Government. Recently we have prototyped electronic systems and effects, conducted hardware-in-the-loop testing of tactically relevant payloads with surrogate threat systems, developed RF subsystems for satellites, and analyzed spacecraft mission dynamics, environments, and resiliency.

Job Description

Group 94, Electronics for Contested Space, is seeking an embedded systems architect to lead the design, development and fielding embedded systems to support novel space applications. The successful candidate will be able to contribute to multi-disciplinary teams executing advanced research and independently solve technical challenges. Occasional travel to support field exercises, presentations to sponsors and the community, and other events may be required.

An ideal candidate is a self-driven leader and contributor, an effective communicator of technical content to all audiences, and an effective lead member of an interdisciplinary team. Broad experience in multiple technology areas and applications will make a candidate for this role stand out. Applicants should have experience and evidence of their ability in technical areas related to embedded systems architecture.

Applicants must have significant experience in at least one of the following areas: digital (FPGA-based) circuits, microcontroller design and/or embedded systems, runtime optimization, system architecture design, and integration of hardware and software. Experience with laboratory/field test equipment (spectrum analyzers, digital oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, etc.) is highly desirable.

Requirements

• A Master's degree or PhD in electrical engineering, computer engineering or another relevant technical field with 8 years of experience.
• In lieu of the above, a bachelor's degree or equivalent and at least 10 years of relevant experience will be considered.
• Experience decomposing processing chains into component modules for development
• Experience developing synthesizable VHDL, Verilog, and/or SystemVerilog
• Experience implementing FPGA designs in hardware, including the creation of constraint files
• Experience testing and debugging firmware designs in both simulation and in hardware
• Experience implementing and integrating with digital interfaces, such as SPI, PCIe and Gigabit Ethernet
• Laboratory experience, including interface debugging and verification, at the circuit card assembly level
• Digital signal processing experience in either analysis and/or implementation
• Work responsibly and safely in laboratory and assembly environments
• Develop respectful, productive working relationships
• Communicate clearly, precisely, and concisely to technical and non-technical audiences
• Solve broad and/or complex technical or engineering problems
• Learn and apply advanced technical knowledge quickly and proficiently

Desired Skills

• Active Top Secret Security Clearance highly desired
• Expertise in computer architecture, particularly with respect to making trades between bare-metal, or real-time operating systems
• Ability to operate in a Linux development environment
• Familiarity with scripting and task automation leveraging Python, bash, TCL or perl
• Familiarity with MATLAB, Python, C/C++ or other scientific programming languages
• Experience working with modern development best practices, including use of revision control
• Hardware design experience, including schematic capture, layout, routing and initial bring up

Recent Graduate Hiring Range:$145,200-$170,000

Experienced Hiring Range: $145,200-$220,000

Disclaimer: MIT Lincoln Laboratory provides a typical hiring range as a good faith estimate of what we reasonably expect to offer for this position at the time of posting. The final salary offered to a selected candidate will depend on various factors, including-but not limited to-the scope and responsibilities of the role, the candidate's experience, skills and education/training, internal equity considerations and applicable legal requirements. This range reflects base salary only and does not include additional forms of compensation or benefits.

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans
• MIT-funded pension
• Matching 401K
• Paid leave (including vacation, sick, parental, military, etc.)
• Tuition reimbursement and continuing education programs
• Mentorship programs
• A range of work-life balance options
• ... and much more!

Please visit our Benefits page for more information. As an employee of MIT, you can also take advantage of other voluntary benefits, discounts and perks.

Selected candidate will be subject to a pre-employment background investigation and must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret level DoD security clearance.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, disability status, or genetic information; U.S. citizenship is required.

Requisition ID:43284

Nearest Major Market: Boston

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