Senior Embedded Software Engineer (Avionics)
Inversion
$139,000 - $201,000 / year
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Description
Advanced Reentry Technologies
Who We Are:
Inversion is an aerospace and defense company pioneering advanced reentry technology to enable next-generation capabilities from space. By combining high-performance materials, precision aerodynamics, and mission-driven autonomy, Inversion is transforming reentry into an operational capability for an entirely new class of missions.
The company’s highly maneuverable reentry spacecraft, Arc, is designed for rapid global cargo delivery, hypersonic testing, and other national security missions that require precise, controlled flight through the atmosphere. Arc creates an entirely new transportation domain, unlocking unprecedented speed and global reach.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Inversion designs, manufactures, and integrates its spacecraft under one roof, enabling the company to move rapidly from concept to flight. The company is backed by leading investors including Y Combinator, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures, with customers across the U.S. government and commercial space industry.
Position Overview
As a Senior Embedded Software Engineer at Inversion you will own the development, testing, and deployment of highly reliable, low-latency flight software that runs on Arc’s vehicle avionics hardware. You will design and implement safety-critical code for microcontrollers, power distribution units, flight computers, and communication systems. Operating with high autonomy, you will bridge the gap between hardware and software, debugging boundary-level issues, establishing embedded coding standards, and ensuring our flight processors execute flawlessly through extreme reentry environments.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design, develop, and maintain high-reliability, real-time embedded software in C/C++ for Arc flight computers, microcontrollers, and actuators.
- Architect and implement low-level device drivers for communication protocols including SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, Ethernet, and RS-422.
- Own embedded software modules end-to-end, from early requirements definition through testing, qualification, and vehicle-level flight operations.
- Bring up new avionics hardware platforms, debugging complex hardware-software boundary issues using JTAG, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, and packet sniffers.
- Integrate and validate embedded code using software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test environments.
- Perform rigorous code reviews, establish technical standards, and mentor junior embedded engineers on the team.
- Collaborate closely with the core Flight Software and Simulation teams to align vehicle autonomy, telemetry architectures, and GNC algorithm execution.
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent technical experience.
- Typically 5+ years of professional experience developing low-level embedded C/C++ software for real-time systems.
- Hands-on experience with bare-metal microcontrollers and Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) like FreeRTOS, RTEMS, or VxWorks.
- Proven capability to read electrical schematics, understand datasheet registers, and debug physical hardware using laboratory instruments.
- Experience implementing standard hardware peripheral drivers and serial communication protocols.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Must have the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government Secret/Top Secret security clearance.
Desired Qualifications:
- Experience developing software for safety-critical or high-reliability applications (e.g., aerospace, automotive, or medical devices).
- Familiarity with modern software development practices, including Git, unit test frameworks, static analysis tools, and CI/CD pipelines.
- Proficiency in Python for test automation, data analysis, and hardware scripting.
- Experience developing embedded software on Linux-based systems.
- Experience developing FPGA designs and digital logic using VHDL, Verilog, or SystemVerilog.
- Experience developing custom Board Support Packages (BSPs), bootloader configurations, device startup code, and hardware abstraction layers (HAL).
- Experience participating in electrical schematic reviews and collaborating closely with hardware engineers to guide board-level design.
- Experience leading PCB bring-up, design verification testing (DVT), hardware qualification, and transition to production.
- Prior experience in a fast-paced aerospace startup or small hardware integration team.
Our office headquarters is located in Playa Vista, CA. This position requires in office presence.
The California annual base salary for this role is currently $139,000 - $201,000. Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity.
Benefits
- stock options
About this role
Inversion is building spacecraft designed to deliver payloads anywhere on Earth in under an hour through extreme reentry conditions. As a Senior Embedded Software Engineer on the Arc Vehicle Avionics team, you'd own the flight software running on the vehicle's core systems—flight computers, microcontrollers, power distribution, and communications hardware. This is safety-critical work: your code must execute flawlessly through hypersonic reentry, which means designing real-time embedded systems in C/C++, implementing low-level device drivers for protocols like CAN and Ethernet, and debugging hardware-software boundary issues using oscilloscopes and logic analyzers.
You'll operate with significant autonomy, taking embedded modules from requirements through qualification and flight operations. The role bridges hardware and software closely—you'll bring up new avionics platforms, run hardware-in-the-loop testing, and collaborate with flight software and simulation teams. You'll also mentor junior engineers and help establish coding standards across the team.
The position requires 5+ years developing embedded C/C++ for real-time systems, hands-on experience with bare-metal microcontrollers and RTOSes like FreeRTOS, and the ability to read schematics and debug with lab instruments. You'll need to obtain a U.S. government security clearance and be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident due to ITAR regulations. The role is in-office in Playa Vista, California, with a salary range of $139,000–$201,000. Prior aerospace or hardware startup experience is valued, as is familiarity with Linux, Python, FPGA design, and PCB bring-up processes.
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Pay for this role
$139,000 to $201,000 per year
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