Embedded Software Engineering Lead

Department: Software

Location: San Carlos, California

Employment Type: FullTime

About Aetherflux

Aetherflux is solving the global energy crisis by building the infrastructure for abundant, resilient, and continuous space-based solar energy. We are tackling humanity’s most complex engineering challenge with a world-class team dedicated to delivering a revolutionary power platform. Aetherflux is transforming how civilization powers, computes, and connects—from orbit to Earth.

Embedded Software Engineering Lead

The Embedded Software Engineering Lead at Aetherflux will lead the embedded software team in developing and maintaining real-time software for our satellite constellation. This role is responsible for the overall quality, reliability, and fault tolerance of the embedded software infrastructure across satellite control, power beaming operations, and ground receiver systems. You will manage and mentor a team of embedded software engineers to establish development standards, conduct architecture and code reviews, and ensure robust software practices that support Aetherflux's space-based power transmission platform.

Responsibilities

• Team Lead: Lead embedded software team developing flight-critical and avionics systems through mentorship, performance management, and career development.

• Project Management: Plan and coordinate firmware releases, including task breakdowns, sprint management, timeline tracking, and communication to program stakeholders.

• Flight Software Architecture: Design and lead development of fault-tolerant and high-performance software for mission-critical operations.

• Real-Time Embedded Software Development: Design, implement, and test embedded software for onboard satellite control, real-time data processing, communication, and laser power transmission.

• Hardware Integration: Work with hardware engineers to integrate embedded software with spacecraft avionics, sensors, actuators, and communication systems.

• Testing & Simulation: Work with hardware and test teams to build software-in-the-loop (SITL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) environments for software validation.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.

• 2+ years of experience as the lead of an embedded software development team.

• 5+ years of experience as an embedded software engineer, particularly for aerospace or satellite applications.

• Proficiency in C, C++, and/or Rust for embedded systems.

• Experience developing bare-metal embedded software.

• Experience with hardware interfaces such as SPI, I2C, UART, and LVDS.

• Familiarity with embedded debugging tools including oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and JTAG debuggers.

• Knowledge of Linux-based embedded systems.

• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work in a fast-paced environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience as the lead of an embedded software development team, particularly for aerospace or satellite applications.

• Experience with FPGA development and high-speed embedded computing.

• Experience with software development for space environments.

• Familiarity with satellite communication protocols and telemetry processing.