Lead Software Engineer

THIS POSITION IS FOR STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY CONSULTING (STC), AN ARCFIELD COMPANY

Strategic Technology Consulting (STC), an Arcfield Company, is seeking a Lead Software Engineer / Architect to lead the design, development, and integration of the full software stack for advanced tactical edge systems. This role will own the software architecture from low-level hardware interfaces and Hardware Abstraction Layers through embedded control software, edge AI inferencing, and multi-sensor PNT fusion capabilities. The engineer will lead a team of embedded software and machine learning engineers to develop reliable, modular, and high-performance software that can run deterministic, mission-critical algorithms alongside compute-intensive AI/ML workloads on SWaP-constrained hardware. The ideal candidate will bring deep experience in embedded software architecture, real-time systems, C/C++ development, hardware/software integration, and Modular Open Systems Approach principles, with the ability to design software that supports sensor modularity, hardware interchangeability, and long-term scalability. This role requires a hands-on technical leader who can translate complex mission needs into robust software architectures that enable resilient operation in degraded or GPS-denied environments.

Responsibilities:

• Architect the Stack: Design and own the end-to-end embedded software architecture, selecting and configuring the RTOS/Hypervisor stack to guarantee real-time performance for critical PNT loops on SWaP-constrained processors.
• Solve the AI/Deterministic Divide: Architect resource allocation, core-pinning, and memory partitioning to safely execute Edge AI NAVWAR algorithms.
• Implement Software MOSA: Build robust, hardware-agnostic APIs and HALs aligned with SOSA profiles.
• Lead and Ship: Direct a team of embedded systems, DSP, and AI software engineers. You will run code reviews, unblock technical hurdles, and prioritize engineering efforts to meet field-deployment deadlines.
  

• BS 8-10, MS 6-8, Phd 3-5 (degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field).
• Expert-level proficiency in C and modern C++ for resource-constrained embedded systems.
• Deep experience with Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) (e.g., VxWorks, seL4, FreeRTOS, Zephyr) and embedded Linux.
• Strong understanding of hardware-software integration, including interacting with FPGAs, ADCs, DACs, and serial protocols (SPI, I2C, PCIe, Ethernet).
• Experience with Rust in an embedded/systems context for safety-critical applications.
• Familiarity with VITA90/VNX+ hardware standards and SOSA (Sensor Open Systems Architecture) software profiles.
• Experience developing software for PNT (Positioning, Navigation, and Timing), Kalman filtering, or Software Defined Radios (SDR) preferred.
• Experience deploying optimized Machine Learning models (TensorFlow Lite, ONNX, TensorRT) onto edge devices or heterogeneous compute nodes (CPU/GPU/NPU) prefered.
• Demonstrated experience leading or managing software engineering teams through the full product lifecycle.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. DoD Secret Security Clearance.

We are an equal opportunity employer and federal government contractor. We do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment as protected by law.