Senior Embedded Software Engineer (San Diego)

Pinnacle Government Solutions is a minority-owned small business that provides Software, AI/ML, and Cloud Engineering Solutions for our Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, and Federal Civilian agencies. We bring SME-level expertise and over five decades of combined industry knowledge and Talent Acquisition experience. We believe in getting it right for our customers and our country.

We are seeking an experienced Embedded Software Engineer to support the development, integration, and testing of complex real-time and secure embedded software. The role works across the software lifecycle and collaborates with systems, hardware, digital engineering, and integration/test teams in an Agile development environment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, integrate, and test embedded software for complex real-time systems, including security-focused and communications applications.
• Support software architecture, low-level software/firmware integration, implementation, debugging, and verification.
• Analyze system capabilities, software requirements, interfaces, input/output needs, and technical constraints to develop effective solutions.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary engineering teams throughout design, integration, and test activities.
• Apply disciplined software lifecycle practices from requirements and design through implementation, unit testing, integration, and system test.
• Support troubleshooting and technical investigations involving embedded hardware/software interfaces and communications systems.

Required Qualifications:

• Active U.S. Government Secret clearance required.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related STEM discipline with relevant professional experience; advanced education may substitute for a portion of the experience requirement.
• Professional experience developing embedded software using C and/or C++.
• Experience with object-oriented programming concepts and practices.
• Experience integrating low-level firmware and software in real-time, multithreaded embedded applications.
• Experience developing and debugging embedded real-time systems.
• Working knowledge of formal software development lifecycle processes, including requirements, design, implementation, integration, and testing.
• Familiarity with static analysis and unit testing practices.
• Experience with Agile development and source/configuration management tools such as Git, Bitbucket, and/or Jira.
• Ability to work full-time onsite in the San Diego, California area.
• Ability to maintain the required U.S. Government security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with secure or cryptographic software development and integration.
• Experience with Software Defined Radio (SDR), tactical communications, waveform software, or similar embedded communications systems.
• Experience with Xilinx platforms such as Zynq, UltraScale+, or Versal and tools such as Vitis or Vivado.
• Experience with Yocto and/or PetaLinux.
• Knowledge of embedded communication interfaces and protocols such as I2C, SPI, UART, PCIe, Ethernet, and TCP/IP.
• Experience with Rust, Linux kernel drivers, assembly language, or bare-metal embedded device drivers.
• Familiarity with FPGA technologies and VHDL/Verilog.
• Experience with PowerPC or comparable embedded processor architectures.
• Experience implementing security or cryptographic mechanisms using software libraries.
• Familiarity with secure communications concepts, key management, or related security protocols.
• Experience with systems/software engineering tools such as DOORS, Rhapsody, ClearCase, or comparable platforms.
• Active Top Secret and/or additional program access is a plus.
• Comfortable working close to the hardware, solving complex embedded software problems, and collaborating across engineering disciplines.
• Experience in high-reliability, secure, defense, aerospace, communications, or similarly demanding technical environments is highly valued.