Senior Software Engineer / RF Systems

About Us

Quartermaster is building the world's most comprehensive maritime intelligence platform. Our SmartMast system transforms commercial and civilian vessels into a persistent, distributed sensing network—combining HD video, AI, radar, RF sensing, and AIS to deliver real-time maritime domain awareness at global scale. With 600+ sensors deployed across 25+ countries and more than 400,000 vessels identified outside of AIS, we are setting a new standard for what ocean surveillance and safety can look like. We are a mission-driven, high-velocity team building dual-use technology for defense agencies, coast guards, and commercial maritime operators.

Job Description

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to help build the software backbone of Quartermaster's RF sensing platform—the edge applications, distributed data pipelines, and cloud services that turn raw spectrum captured on vessels around the world into actionable maritime intelligence. You will work alongside RF, FPGA, and hardware engineers to take signal processing from the lab bench to a deployed fleet: writing high-performance, hardware-aware code that runs on compute-constrained embedded Linux at the mast, moving timestamped IQ data and detections reliably from ship to cloud, and processing that data at scale as our sensor network grows into the thousands.

This role sits at the intersection of systems software, cloud data processing, and RF. You do not need to be an RF engineer, but you should have worked with or alongside RF or SDR software and understand the constraints that come with it—sample rates, timing, throughput, and hardware that lives in harsh, remote environments. You will own components end-to-end, work directly with customers to shape requirements, operate with a high degree of independence, and collaborate closely with a small, senior team where every engineer's work is visible in the field.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain high-performance software in Rust, C, and/or C++ that runs across a distributed system spanning edge devices and the cloud.

• Architect optimized, hardware-aware software that interfaces with SDR hardware, FPGA fabric, and embedded Linux on compute-constrained SmartMast units.

• Develop reliable streaming data paths for IQ samples, detection events, and metadata—from hardware drivers and DMA buffers through packetization (e.g., VITA 49), custom TCP/UDP transport, on-device processing, and upload to the cloud.

• Build and operate large-scale cloud data processing pipelines that ingest, process, store, and serve high-bandwidth RF captures and telemetry from a globally distributed fleet to deliver real-time insights.

• Work directly with customers to understand operational needs, derive and refine requirements, and translate them into technical solutions.

• Partner with RF and DSP engineers to turn algorithms prototyped in Python or GNU Radio into production-grade, tested, and maintainable implementations.

• Own device provisioning, configuration, versioning, and release tooling that allows new units to be brought up, updated, and monitored remotely with confidence.

• Establish strong engineering practices across the stack: automated testing, hardware-in-the-loop validation, CI/CD, code review, design discussions, and clear documentation.

• Support field deployments and diagnose issues on live units, using logs, telemetry, and captured data to identify root causes and drive durable fixes.

Qualifications (Preferred)

• 4+ years of professional software development experience and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.

• Strong coding and debugging skills in compiled, native languages (C, C++, or Rust); production Rust experience is strongly preferred.

• Systems-level development on resource-constrained, embedded Linux platforms, including hardware-software interfaces (e.g., device drivers, memory-mapped I/O, DMA) and the computer architecture knowledge to write hardware-aware, performance-optimized code.

• Proficiency with IP networking, including implementing or debugging custom TCP/UDP protocols.

• Experience building and operating large-scale, distributed data processing pipelines in the cloud for high-volume or streaming data. Hands-on AWS experience (e.g., S3, IoT Core, Lambda, ECS, Kinesis) and familiarity with infrastructure-as-code tooling preferred.

• 2+ years working with or adjacent to RF, SDR, or wireless communications software. Familiarity with tools and standards such as GNU Radio, UHD/USRP, libiio, VITA 49, or SigMF is a plus.

• Demonstrated ability to independently decompose ambiguous, complex problems—including directly with customers—and carry them to deployment with minimal guidance.

• Active U.S. security clearance, or eligibility and willingness to obtain one.

• Bonus: Exposure to FPGA-based SoCs (e.g., Xilinx Zynq/MPSoC); background in digital signal processing (filtering, channelization, FFT-based analysis, CFAR detection) or GNSS timing and geolocation; prior experience on defense, maritime, or government programs.

Work Environment:

• Small, senior, cross-disciplinary team spanning RF, FPGA, hardware, and software.

• Start-up atmosphere with significant autonomy and ownership given to engineers.

• Hands-on work with real hardware, with occasional travel to support testing and field deployments.

• In-office and flexible hours