Digital Design and Software Engineer - Embedded Systems & AI

Digital Design and Software Engineer - Embedded Systems & AI

We are a stealth mode defense startup seeking a highly skilled digital design and software engineer with strength in embedded systems and AI to lead the hardware consolidation, firmware development, and on-device AI integration for a custom sensor platform. You will help us complete a proof-of-concept system built on Raspberry Pi and peripheral sensor boards and then redesign it into a single, production-ready custom PCB. You will also develop the embedded software layer that allows our internal algorithm team to deploy custom software onto the device and integrate AI/ML inference pipelines to analyze sensor data in real time.

This is a highly collaborative role. You will work closely with a design team of mechanical engineers, aerospace engineers, and analog circuit/power management engineers to program the prototype, select and train the AI algorithm, and convert the prototype into an integrated custom solution.

Key Responsibilities

Firmware & Embedded Software

•      Ensure Raspberry Pi software and hardware interface code is functional in prototype application.

•      Write, test, and maintain firmware and embedded Linux BSP (Board Support Package) to support all hardware peripherals in final production system

•      Develop clean software interfaces and APIs and interact with algorithm engineers to deploy and run custom software on the platform

Hardware Design

•      Evaluate existing Raspberry Pi-based hardware setup and sensor boards to define requirements for a consolidated custom PCB

•      Design and prototype a custom PCB integrating a compute module (e.g., Raspberry Pi CM4 or equivalent SoM) with required sensor interfaces

•      Select components, develop schematics, manage PCB layout (or coordinate with layout specialists), and oversee board bring-up and validation

•      Coordinate with external PCB manufacturers and component suppliers as needed

AI & Machine Learning Integration

•      Select, configure, and integrate off-the-shelf AI/ML frameworks for on-device inference (e.g., YOLO for object detection, TensorFlow Lite, ONNX Runtime, PyTorch Mobile)

•      Build and maintain inference pipelines that consume sensor data and produce actionable outputs in real time

•      Leverage hardware acceleration where available (e.g., GPU, NPU, Coral TPU, Hailo) to maximize inference performance

•      Support model training workflows using standard toolchains, enabling the algorithm team to retrain and redeploy models to the device with minimal friction

Required Qualifications

•      Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent hands-on experience)

•      5+ years of experience in embedded systems hardware and/or firmware development

•      Demonstrated experience designing custom PCBs (schematic capture and layout in KiCad, Altium, or Eagle)

•      Experience in C/C++, Rust, Python

•      Experience with embedded Linux (Raspberry Pi, Yocto, Buildroot, or similar)

•      Familiarity with common sensor communication protocols: I²C, SPI, UART, GPIO

•      Experience with board bring-up and hardware debugging (oscilloscope, logic analyzer, multimeter)

•      Hands-on experience deploying AI/ML inference on embedded or edge devices using frameworks such as YOLO, TensorFlow Lite, ONNX Runtime, or equivalent

•      Ability to write clean, well-documented APIs and interfaces for non-hardware engineers

Opportunity:

•      Competitive salary / contract rate - depends on experience

•      Early stage equity in a startup with high valuation potential

•      Opportunity to own a full hardware-to-software-to-AI stack

•      Collaborative, technically focused team environment