Senior Software Engineer, Defense Unicorns

• This role is ideal for engineers who enjoy systems programming, autonomy, and solving real-world problems for national security missions
• Professional experience in software engineering, embedded systems, or firmware development - delivering production-grade product
• Strong proficiency in Rust - experience in low-level, embedded or no_std environments a bonus
• Experience integrating with microcontroller peripherals and hardware interfaces (SPI, I2C, UART, Ethernet, USB, etc.)
• Familiarity with software design, algorithm implementation, debugging/testing/profiling, and performance optimization
• Working knowledge of:
• Distributed systems, data-distribution and network architectures
• Networking protocols and technologies (TCP/UDP, BLE/LoRa, routing)
• Trust systems, certificate management, and encryption schemes
• Modern data patterns, CRDTs, offline-first, synchronization/replication
• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate across engineering disciplines
• U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret / SCI security clearance
• If you're enthusiastic about the role but don't match every criteria, we encourage you to apply. You could be the perfect fit for this or another role!

Desirable

• We are seeking a mission-driven Rust Software Engineer to build resilient software systems that enable human-machine-AI teaming and autonomous capabilities for military operators at the tactical edge
• In this role, you will design and implement high-performance systems in Rust that operate in constrained, contested environments. You will contribute across the full system lifecycle — from architecture and hardware integration through simulation, testing, and field deployment
• You will work alongside engineers, researchers, and operators to develop systems that fuse sensing, autonomy, and decision support while ensuring traceable, deterministic builds and reliable deployments in mission-critical environments
• Design and implement high-performance, distributed, software systems in Rust, targeting cloud-native as well as resource-constrained and edge computing environments
• Participate in system architecture, network topologies, hardware part evaluation, and engineering reviews for both existing product revisions and new systems
• Develop software/models systems that supports human-in-the-loop and human-on-the-loop autonomy workflows for distributed operations
• Build infrastructure enabling deterministic builds, reproducible environments, and configuration management to ensure traceability and maintainability
• Implement and maintain systems with over-the-air (OTA) update mechanisms for field-deployed systems - virtual machines, containers, and embedded packages
• Integrate software with microcontroller peripherals and hardware buses (SPI, I2C, UART, Ethernet, USB, AXI, etc.)
• Develop and execute comprehensive experiment and test strategies including:
• Unit testing
• Software-in-the-Loop (SITL)
• Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL)
• Functional, end-to-end system/field/scale testing
• Collaborate with mission heroes and multidisciplinary teams to deploy and sustain systems, supporting integration and various exercises and operational events
• Optimize systems for performance, reliability, power consumption, and maintainability
• What You’ll Work On:
• Distributed autonomy platforms that assist operators in decision-making and mission execution
• Human-machine-AI collaboration systems operating around the globe
• Real-time sensor integration, edge processing, and data distribution
• Robust deployment infrastructure enabling secure, trusted/traceable updates in fielded systems
• Systems that must operate reliably in degraded, disconnected, or adversarial environments