Software Engineer (Embedded Firmware)

As an embedded firmware engineer at Zipline, you will be responsible for building the lowest level and most safety-critical software on our aircraft

You will work closely with a range of other disciplines, including electrical, mechanical, embedded Linux, and systems engineers, to ensure each aircraft seamlessly transitions from our manufacturing lines to being a participant in the largest drone delivery network in the world

We use C++ in our firmware development, with Rust and Python for tooling that will be deployed to our production systems in the field

Our aircraft are deployed to locations around the world, many not easily accessible, even over a network

You will help build re-usable firmware infrastructure that will level up our systems’ observability and reliability, without requiring an equal scaling of our engineering team

Design and build the software necessary to run critical flight and safety processes on a network of microcontrollers, in cooperation with embedded Linux edge computers

Understand and improve the reliability of the flight software system as a whole, working with hardware and systems engineers to develop comprehensive fault management strategies and hardware-in-the-loop tests

Analyze the runtime characteristics of our avionics software in flight to build confidence in its performance, focusing on re-usable, maintainable software and optimizing where required

Develop metrics, monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities to prepare the system for field deployment at scale

Design and build data collection and testing tools to support early stage evaluation of new sensors, communications systems, and microcontroller platforms- Fluency in implementing peripheral drivers based on electrical schematics and datasheets, and debugging at this boundary in order to support prototype hardware evaluation

Our team uses a hybrid in-office and distributed work environment, centered around our headquarters in South San Francisco, CA. You must be able to work from the office on a regular basis

Experience building and maintaining real-world deployed embedded systems, and handling the long tail of edge cases to ensure consistent safety, reliability and high performance

A systems mindset and intuition for debugging; when anything could be wrong, you know how to narrow down the possibilities

Curiosity and a willingness to learn and work in a variety of embedded environments, from running on bare metal, to using and RTOS and integrating with embedded Linux

Strong software engineering skills, with proficiency in at least one strongly typed language. We use C++, Rust, and Python

This role requires a minimum of 3 years of working experience at a business developing hardware. If you are a new graduate or currently in school, this is not an appropriate role to apply for