Embedded Systems Engineer - Tactical Photonic Datalinks

About Us

Fiber optics litter the frontlines in Ukraine. Radios are being replaced with tethered comms to defeat jammers. Flux is pioneering wireless laser datalinks powered by photonic circuits to ensure resilient tactical networks for America and her allies in defense of free and open society.

The Role

As an  Embedded Systems Engineer , you will own the embedded system on Flux’s laser link end-to-end in a fast paced environment, from early architecture and component selection through board prototypes, firmware, and field testing on small unmanned platforms. This is a hands-on role spanning hardware and firmware, with a strong emphasis on building reliable, testable systems quickly that perform in real-world environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the embedded system from requirements through field deployment , including architecture, prototyping, validation, and iteration.
• Develop high-speed signal processing algorithms for PHY and Link Layer.
• Build production-grade firmware for link control and management: state machines, configuration, fault handling, telemetry, and deployment.
• Test prototyped hardware in the field.
• Build system observability and operational tooling to enable debugging, telemetry, and reliable field performance across the full datalink stack.

What We’re Looking For

• Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering.
• 3+ Years experience writing, deploying and optimizing production-grade firmware for high speed hardware.
• 1+ Year experience writing efficient digital signal processing algorithms.
• At least one project owning software systems architecture from conception through deployment.
• Hacker : You enjoy prototyping hardware systems, learning from failure and adapting to achieve a functional result.
• Clear Communicator: You can teach and learn from colleagues. You love a good graph.
• Team Player : Willingness to collaborate closely, celebrate your team’s victories, ask for help, and help others get unstuck. You're an effective teammate others depend on.
• Ownership : You take pride in your work. You are eager to own problems and deliver results in a mission-critical role in a fast-paced, productive environment.
• This is a full-time on-site role in our Pacifica, CA office.
• Open to exceptional junior candidates.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: $135k - $175k
• Equity: Stock option grant of 0.2-0.5% of fully diluted shares.
• Benefits: Healthcare, dental, vision, 401k match.
• Growth & Impact : Be a founding engineer of an agile team where your contributions will directly shape next-generation defense technologies.
• Mission-Driven Culture : Work on projects that matter for national security and make fundamental advancements in physical technology.

Join Us

If you’re excited about advancing the state-of-the-art in photonics, hungry to make fundamental advances in physical technologies, and want to engineer products that can change the way information flows through a battlefield and beyond, we’d love to hear from you.