Software Engineer (Mid/Senior) - Embedded Systems & HITL

Reston, Virginia

$140,000–$200,000
Quick Apply

30+ days ago

Job Description

Position Description:
Software Engineer Mid / Senior — Embedded Systems & Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL).

Location: Reston, VA (on-site at customer facility; occasional Washington, DC).

ZTI Solutions, LLC is hiring an embedded software engineer to support a U.S. Department of Defense program developing mission-critical embedded systems. The successful candidate will be embedded with a multidisciplinary team of software, hardware, and systems engineers responsible for the design, development, integration, and certification of low-level software running on bare metal targets and interfacing with custom and government-furnished hardware. This is a hands-on engineering role requiring strong fundamentals in embedded software, networking, and test automation, as well as the ability to operate effectively in a regulated, security-conscious environment.

Job Responsibilities:

Design and develop low-level bare metal infrastructure (boot, startup, board support packages, drivers, and runtime services) for embedded compute platforms.
Design, implement, and optimize networking protocols and stacks (e.g., Ethernet, TCP/IP/UDP, MIL-STD-1553, ARINC-429, CAN, SpaceWire, or program-specific protocols) at the firmware/driver level.
Profile, debug, and tune performance, memory utilization, and real-time behavior on resource-constrained targets.
Produce design artifacts (interface control documents, software design descriptions, and design review materials) consistent with program and DoD documentation standards.
Develop and maintain automated test suites suitable for product qualification, acceptance, and certification activities.
Design, build, and operate Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL) test environments, including stimulus generation, instrumentation, and data capture.
Author and execute test procedures aligned to applicable standards (e.g., DO-178C, MIL-STD-498/882, or program-specific verification plans) and support independent verification and validation (IV&V) activities.
Triage failures, perform root-cause analysis, and drive defects to closure within the program's configuration management and issue-tracking processes.
Integrate developed software with the core system baseline and with associated hardware components, ensuring interface compliance and end-to-end functionality.
Collaborate with hardware, FPGA, systems, and cybersecurity engineers to resolve cross-discipline integration issues.
Support laboratory bring-up, system integration test (SIT), formal qualification test (FQT), and field/flight test events as required.
Participate in peer code reviews, design reviews, and technical interchange meetings (TIMs) with internal and government stakeholders.
Keep up to date on the newest embedded, real-time, and cybersecurity innovations in the field and apply relevant innovations to mission systems.

Qualifications:

Typical Education and Experience:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical discipline; career experience, knowledge, and industry certifications will be considered in lieu of degrees.
5 years or more of professional software engineering experience, with a substantial portion in embedded, bare metal, or real-time environments.
Proficiency in C and/or C++ for embedded targets; working knowledge of assembly for at least one common architecture (ARM, PowerPC, x86, or RISC-V).
3 years of demonstrated experience implementing or extending low-level drivers, board support packages (BSPs), or networking protocol stacks.
3 years of hands-on experience developing automated tests and operating HITL or equivalent benchtop test environments.
Familiarity with version control (Git), build systems (Make/CMake/Bazel), and continuous integration pipelines.
Active U.S. DoD Secret security clearance at time of hire; U.S. citizenship required.

Preferred Qualifications:

Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline.
Experience with safety- or mission-critical certification efforts (e.g., DO-178C, ARP4754A, MIL-STD-882, NIST SP 800-53/171, RMF).
Experience with RTOS environments (VxWorks, Integrity, LynxOS, FreeRTOS, Zephyr) and/or Linux kernel/driver development.
Experience with test frameworks such as Google Test, pytest, LabVIEW, NI TestStand, or program-specific test harnesses.
Familiarity with cybersecurity requirements for embedded systems and supply-chain risk management (SCRM).
Knowledge of professional software engineering best practices for the full software development lifecycle; including coding standards, peer code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, monitoring, and operations.
Experience integrating software with custom and government-furnished hardware in a security-conscious environment.
Demonstrated experience in delivering software using agile/scrum methodologies in a DoD program environment.
Strong troubleshooting skills; able to resolve integration issues and support hardware/software interface debugging independently.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills with both functional and technical counterparts, including the ability to communicate with users, other technical teams, and senior management to collect requirements, describe technical designs, and convey product strategy.
Demonstrated ability to partner with and mentor junior software engineers in embedded, test, and integration disciplines.
Experience with configuration management, automated testing, and Test/Behavior Driven Development (T/BDD); Unit, Regression, and Integration Testing.
Familiarity with object-oriented design and with functional programming methodology.
Applicable industry technical/leadership certifications: Security+, AWS/Azure cloud practitioner certifications, Certified Scrum Master (CSM), or others.
Ability to work in a fast-paced and challenging integrated-team environment at a DoD customer site, with up to 25% CONUS/OCONUS travel to government, customer, and test facilities.
Active U.S. DoD Secret clearance.

Benefits:

3-4 Weeks Paid Time Off.
All Federal Holiday's Paid Vacation.
Four Percent Matching 401K.
Full health/vision/dental benefits for the employee and family paid 100% by ZTI Solutions, LLC.

Numbers & Facts

Location	Reston, Virginia
Salary	$140,000–$200,000

Skills

ARM (Advanced RISC Machine)unmatched
ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)unmatched
Acceptance Testingunmatched
Agile Programming Methodologiesunmatched
Amazon Web Services (AWS)unmatched
Behavior Driven Development (BDD)unmatched
Best Practicesunmatched
C Programming Languageunmatched
C++ Programming Languageunmatched
CMakeunmatched
Certified ScrumMasterunmatched
Cloud Computingunmatched
Code Reviewsunmatched
Coding Standardsunmatched
Communication Skillsunmatched
CompTIA Security+unmatched
Computer Engineeringunmatched
Computer Firmwareunmatched
Computer Scienceunmatched
Computer Servicesunmatched
Computer Systemsunmatched
Configuration Managementunmatched
Continuous Integrationunmatched
Cross-Functionalunmatched
Data Collectionunmatched
Debugging Skillsunmatched
DoD Secret Clearanceunmatched
Document Managementunmatched
Documentation Standardsunmatched
Electrical Engineeringunmatched
Embedded Hardwareunmatched
Embedded Softwareunmatched
Embedded Systemsunmatched
Employee Benefitsunmatched
Engineeringunmatched
Ethernetunmatched
FPGAunmatched
Field Trialsunmatched
Functional Programming Languagesunmatched
Gitunmatched
Governmentunmatched
Hardware Administrationunmatched
Hardware Componentsunmatched
Hardware Debuggingunmatched
Identify Issuesunmatched
Instrumentationunmatched
Integration Testingunmatched
Internet Securityunmatched
Interpersonal Skillsunmatched
Leadershipunmatched
Linux Kernel Driversunmatched
Low-Level Designunmatched
LynxOSunmatched
MIL-STD-1553unmatched
Maintain Complianceunmatched
Memory Hardwareunmatched
Mentoringunmatched
Microsoft Windows Azureunmatched
Military/DoD Standardsunmatched
Network Protocolsunmatched
Network Testingunmatched
Object Oriented Design (OOD)unmatched
Performance Tuning/Optimizationunmatched
PowerPC Processorunmatched
Problem Solving Skillsunmatched
Product Strategyunmatched
Programming Methodologiesunmatched
Protocol Stackunmatched
RISC Processorsunmatched
Realtime Operating Systemunmatched
Regression Testingunmatched
Risk Managementunmatched
Root Cause Analysisunmatched
Scrum Project Management and Software Developmentunmatched
Security Clearanceunmatched
Software Administrationunmatched
Software Debuggingunmatched
Software Designunmatched
Software Developmentunmatched
Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)unmatched
Software Engineeringunmatched
Source Code/Configuration Management (SCM)unmatched
Startupunmatched
Supply Chain Managementunmatched
System Integration (SI)unmatched
System Testunmatched
Systems Engineeringunmatched
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)unmatched
Technical/Engineering Designunmatched
Test Automationunmatched
Test Driven Development (TDD)unmatched
Test Plan/Scheduleunmatched
Test Suiteunmatched
Testingunmatched
U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)unmatched
UDP (User Datagram Protocol)unmatched
Unit Testunmatched
United States Citizenunmatched
United States Department of Defense (DoD)unmatched
Validation Testingunmatched
Verification Plansunmatched
VxWorksunmatched
Willing to Travelunmatched
x86 Processorsunmatched

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Software Engineer (Mid/Senior) - Embedded Systems & HITL

Job Description

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