Firmware Engineer - Flight Software
$145,500–$204,000 year
On-siteTorrance, California, United States
Job Summary
Implement flight modes and control features including position and altitude hold with safety degradation behaviors. Port and tune sensors and control algorithms across flight stacks like Betaflight and PX4 to preserve flight feel. Build vehicle-side datalink and payload integrations for new platform variants while instrumenting the vehicle for bench and flight-test iterations. Write unit and integration tests, partnering with the Test organization on SITL/HITL and flight-test execution. Debug hardware-coupled issues that only reproduce in flight. This role supports Neros' mission to deliver first-person-view drones for the modern battlefield by moving capability into the hands of warfighters rapidly.
Required Qualifications
- Strong embedded C on resource-constrained microcontrollers
- Hands-on experience with a flight stack — PX4, Betaflight, or similar
- Working grasp of flight-control fundamentals: control loops, filtering, and how sensors (IMU, baro, GPS) become state estimates
- Track record of debugging hardware-coupled problems
- Able to own a problem end to end with light direction
- Test discipline appropriate to safety-relevant firmware
Desired Qualifications
- Datalink, tunneling, or networking-protocol work on embedded systems
- Betaflight internals experience — modes, RC/mixer path, or a maintained fork
- Counter-UAS, radar-guided, or interceptor-adjacent systems exposure or interest
- Estimation depth (EKF/complementary filters, sensor fusion)
- Depth in the PX4 ecosystem — MAVLink, uORB, EKF2, offboard/companion-computer integration, QGroundControl tooling
- You fly — FPV, racing, or fixed-wing RC
Hiring someone like this?
Get your role in front of qualified candidates on Sorce.