Principal Embedded Software Engineer

Job Title: Principal Embedded Software Engineer

Company: Pixels on Target

Location: Sunrise, Florida

Workplace Type: On-site

Employment Type: Full-time

About Pixels on Target

Pixels on Target develops advanced thermal optics and imaging systems for customers operating in demanding environments. Our products combine embedded computing, image processing, and machine learning to meet mission-specific requirements.

We are looking for a Principal Embedded Software Engineer to shape software architecture and lead development across FreeRTOS, Zephyr, and Embedded Linux platforms. This role offers ownership from early prototypes through production, including edge AI/ML for image signal processing, image fusion, and camera integration across the spectrum from visible light to long-wave infrared (LWIR).

About the Role

This position combines approximately 70% hands-on engineering and 30% technical leadership. You will develop firmware and embedded software, guide architecture decisions, mentor engineers, and collaborate closely with hardware and product teams.

Your work will span microcontroller firmware, RTOS-based systems, Embedded Linux platforms, multispectral camera integration, real-time image processing, and edge AI. You will help develop and deploy AI/ML-based ISP algorithms and image fusion capabilities on embedded platforms with demanding latency, power, and memory constraints.

Responsibilities

• Define software and firmware architecture for microcontroller and application-processor platforms using FreeRTOS, Zephyr, and Embedded Linux.

• Develop production-quality C/C++ firmware, device drivers, board support packages (BSPs), middleware, and applications.

• Lead board bring-up, bootloader development, peripheral integration, and hardware/software debugging.

• Design real-time systems with reliable task scheduling, interrupt handling, synchronization, and inter-task communication.

• Integrate cameras and sensors across the imaging spectrum, from visible light to LWIR, including sensor control, acquisition, synchronization, and calibration.

• Develop and optimize image signal processing (ISP) pipelines for image quality, low latency, and efficient use of embedded resources.

• Develop, integrate, and deploy AI/ML algorithms at the edge for ISP functions such as image enhancement, denoising, and detail restoration.

• Implement and optimize image fusion algorithms that combine complementary information from visible and thermal cameras.

• Address multi-camera image registration, alignment, synchronization, and real-time processing requirements.

• Develop Linux camera and multimedia components using V4L2, ISP pipelines, and GStreamer where applicable.

• Deploy and optimize AI/ML inference workloads on NPUs and other supported embedded accelerators.

• Optimize latency, throughput, memory usage, startup time, power consumption, and system reliability.

• Develop secure boot, firmware update, OTA, diagnostic, and recovery capabilities.

• Lead technical reviews, mentor engineers, and drive development from prototype through production.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of embedded software or firmware development experience, including technical leadership on complex products.

• Strong C and C++ programming skills for resource-constrained embedded systems.

• Deep expertise in RTOS-based development or Embedded Linux, with the ability to work across platforms. Our designs use FreeRTOS, Zephyr, and Embedded Linux; expertise in all three is not required.

• Strong understanding of real-time scheduling, interrupts, concurrency, synchronization, and memory management.

• Hands-on experience with device drivers, BSP development, board bring-up, and hardware/software integration.

• Experience with microcontrollers, microprocessors, and ARM-based platforms.

• Working knowledge of interfaces such as I2C, SPI, UART, USB, I2S, or PCIe.

• Practical debugging experience using GDB, JTAG/SWD, oscilloscopes, and logic analyzers.

• Demonstrated ability to resolve system-level performance, power, and reliability issues.

• Ability to set technical direction, mentor engineers, and communicate effectively across disciplines.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in the following areas is helpful. Candidates are not expected to have experience with every technology listed.

• FreeRTOS: Task architecture, queues, semaphores, event groups, timers, and memory management.

• Zephyr: Device drivers, devicetree, Kconfig, west, and board support.

• Embedded Linux: Kernel programming, device drivers, Yocto, Buildroot, and bootloader integration.

• Bare-metal firmware: Peripheral initialization, interrupt service routines, DMA, and hardware abstraction layers.

• Camera systems: Integration of visible and infrared cameras, including LWIR thermal sensors, camera synchronization, and sensor calibration.

• Imaging and video: ISP algorithm development and tuning, computational imaging, V4L2, GStreamer, and low-latency pipelines.

• Image fusion: Multispectral imaging, visible/thermal fusion, image registration, spatial alignment, and temporal synchronization.

• Edge AI/ML: Embedded deployment of models for image enhancement, denoising, super-resolution, or image fusion.

• Inference optimization: Model quantization, profiling, memory optimization, and NPU or other hardware acceleration.

• Low-power design: Sleep modes, power management, DVFS, and battery-powered systems.

• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth/BLE, Ethernet, USB, and embedded networking.

• Embedded security: Secure boot, signed firmware, OTA updates, and recovery mechanisms.

• Engineering tools: Python, Git, CMake, GCC, automated testing, CI/CD, and hardware-in-the-loop testing.

• Master’s degree in a relevant engineering discipline.

Why Join Pixels on Target?

• Directly influence product architecture, imaging performance, reliability, and power efficiency.

• Develop imaging capabilities spanning visible and thermal cameras, image fusion, and AI-powered image processing at the edge.

• Spend most of your time designing, coding, debugging, and solving technical challenges.

• Build solutions spanning bare-metal firmware, RTOS, Embedded Linux, imaging, and AI.

• Mentor engineers and help shape how products are designed, developed, and delivered.

Location and Eligibility

This is a full-time, on-site position in Sunrise, Florida.

U.S. citizenship or permanent residency is required due to the nature of our work.

How to Apply

We encourage candidates with strong experience in embedded firmware, RTOS, Embedded Linux, or imaging systems to apply, even if they do not meet every preferred qualification.

Submit your resume and highlight a product you helped bring to production, a challenging hardware/software integration, or an imaging or system performance problem you solved.