Systems Software Engineer (Linux)

My client is an Austin based, start‑up applied AI company building autonomous robotic and drone systems for defense and national security clients. The team is small and technically deep — engineers work across the full stack, from hardware bring‑up to system integration to production software. This role will build and integrate software for robotic platforms operating in complex, real‑world environments — connecting Linux‑based software systems to physical sensors, cameras, radios, and compute modules. The work spans hardware bring‑up through production deployment, with close collaboration across electrical, mechanical, and robotics engineering teams. Responsibilities Develop and integrate software for Linux‑based robotic and embedded systems Integrate hardware components — sensors, cameras, radios, compute modules, peripheral devices Design and maintain interfaces between software services, hardware devices, and middleware Build communication interfaces using IPC mechanisms and hardware communication protocols Support hardware bring‑up, software validation, and system integration Debug and troubleshoot complex system‑level software and hardware integration issues Optimise software for performance, reliability, and maintainability Collaborate with electrical, mechanical, and robotics engineers to deliver complete systems Support simulation, HIL testing, field testing, and customer deployments Contribute to software architecture and system design discussions Occasional travel for field testing, customer engagements, and team meetings Requirements Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field Strong C++ and Python programming experience in production environments Experience integrating software with hardware systems (sensors, cameras, actuators, embedded boards) Experience with hardware bring‑up, system integration, and platform validation Multi‑threaded and/or multi‑process application development IPC mechanisms: sockets, shared memory, message passing Hardware communication protocols: Ethernet, CAN, USB, UART, SPI, I2C Strong debugging and troubleshooting skills across software and hardware layers Ability to work effectively within multidisciplinary engineering teams Nice to Have Robotics or autonomous systems background RTOS or embedded Linux (Yocto, Buildroot) Experience in defense, national security, or government‑adjacent contexts Hardware‑in‑the‑loop (HIL) testing experience What we are looking for (beyond the CV) Systems thinker: comfortable holding the full picture across SW and HW Pragmatic: builds for reliability and maintainability, not just proof‑of‑concept Comfortable with ambiguity and the pace of a small, technically deep team Willingness to own problems end‑to‑end — bring‑up to deployment #J-18808-Ljbffr KTA - Talent Advisory