Vehicle Software Engineer (C++, Autonomous Vessels)

Elev8 Recruitment; Oakland (CA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Hybrid work in East Bay

Job summary

Elev8 Recruitment is seeking an experienced C++ engineer to work on autonomous surface vessels. You will own onboard production code, integrating sensors, power, and propulsion with the onboard stack.

Responsibilities include troubleshooting at sea, reproducing issues on test benches, and delivering fixes across the fleet. The role is hybrid, three days per week in East Bay, with no visa sponsorship offered.

Qualifications

• 3 to 5 years writing production C++ for systems that interface with physical hardware.
• Experience testing, deploying and debugging software on embedded systems, bare metal, ROS or similar physical products.
• Background in robotics, autonomous vehicles, aerospace, defence or maritime is a plus, not a must.

Responsibilities

• Own production C++ code running onboard vessels, integrating sensors, power and battery management, propulsion and control systems.
• Troubleshoot, diagnose and reproduce issues on test benches, then push fixes across the fleet.

Skills

C++ Production

Embedded Systems

ROS

Job description

If writing software that actually goes to sea sounds more interesting than another cloud role, this is a hands-on C++ job on autonomous surface vessels that are already deployed and running real missions for defence, government and commercial customers.

You’ll own production code that runs onboard the vessels themselves, integrating sensors, power and battery management, propulsion and control systems into the onboard stack. When something breaks at sea, you’re the one pulling telemetry and logs, reproducing it on a test bench and getting a fix out across the fleet.

Expect roughly half your time on troubleshooting and diagnosis, and the rest on enhancing what’s there and integrating new sensors as mission requirements change. You’d be an early hire into a team being built around vessels already in the field.

What you’ll need:

• 3 to 5 years writing production C++ for systems that interface with physical hardware
• Experience testing, deploying and debugging software on embedded systems, bare metal, ROS or similar physical products
• A background in robotics, autonomous vehicles, aerospace, defence or maritime is a plus, not a must, as long as the hardware and software exposure is genuine.

The practical bits:

$150,000 to $300,000 depending on level, plus equity.

Hybrid, three days a week in the office in the East Bay, no relocation support.

The products are export-controlled, so the client needs US person status (citizen or green card holder) and cannot sponsor visas.