Embedded Systems Engineer

Who We Are:

Aurelius Systems is a VC backed defense tech startup building autonomous, edge deployed directed energy systems for counter-UAS. We build laser weapons to shoot down drones.

We're a small team of engineers, former US military operators, and subject matter experts scaling America's directed energy dominance. The first cost effective, reliable and robust laser weapon system.

Our namesake isn't an accident. Marcus Aurelius wrote about doing the work in front of you, every day, without excuses. Henry Ford didn't wait for permission to reinvent manufacturing. That's how we operate - small team, unreasonable output, no hiding behind the unachievable.

In addition to our San Francisco lab, we've opened a Detroit manufacturing hub and we field test weekly on our own 400-acre private range.

The Role and Your Impact:

We need an Embedded Systems Engineer to own the layer between hardware and the application stack - board bring-up, BSP, drivers, and real-time control across Archimedes' subsystems. You'll work directly with EE, mechanical, and our robotics software team to make sure the system actually talks to itself under field conditions.

What You'll Own:

• Board bring-up and BSP development on custom hardware
• Linux kernel and driver work including device drivers, DMA, interrupts, and userspace interfaces
• Real-time control loops for motion, power, and sensor subsystems
• Hardware and software co-design alongside EEs and mechanical engineers
• Debug at the metal using oscilloscope, logic analyzer, JTAG, and bus traces
• Boot, flash, and update infrastructure for embedded targets including A/B partitions and OTA

What We're Looking For:

• 3 to 8+ years building embedded systems on real hardware
• Multi-layer PCB design and IC selection
• Strong C and C++ on Linux, plus comfort with Python for tooling
• Hands on Linux kernel, driver, and BSP experience on at least one custom board
• Real-time systems experience including PREEMPT_RT, Xenomai, or RTOS
• Comfortable debugging at the hardware level with scope and logic analyzer

Where you probably come from: Defense companies, robotics, drones, automotive embedded, aerospace, or hardware startups doing real-time embedded work.

We want to talk if: You've shipped embedded code on hardware that has to work outside a lab. You've debugged a problem with a scope at 2am and won.

Not a fit if: You're a pure firmware or FPGA engineer (we have a separate role for that), you're a pure application developer with no hardware debug, or you treat the board as a black box.

Nice to Haves:

• Yocto or Buildroot
• ROS2 integration
• Safety-critical or hard real-time experience
• CAN, EtherCAT, or industrial bus experience

Education:

BS or MS in EE, CE, CS, or equivalent hands-on experience.

How You Operate:

• Extreme bias for action. You ship working code on real hardware, not slideware
• You debug from first principles, not intuition alone
• Comfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration in a startup environment
• Clear communicator across electrical, mechanical, optical, and software teams
• Self directed. You identify what needs to happen next and do it without being told

Why Join Aurelius Systems?

• Build more in 1 month than most engineers build in 1 year. We field test weekly. Your work goes downrange, not into a filing cabinet.
• Career velocity is real. At ~10 engineers, there are no layers between you and impact.
• Work on a problem that actually matters. Small cheap drones are changing warfare. Our laser systems are the asymmetric answer - infinite magazine, near zero cost per shot, scalable to every base, border, facility, and truck.
• Join the densest defense startup ecosystem in the country. California is where the next generation of defense companies are being built.

How We Work:

Core hours are Monday through Friday, 9 to 6. When we're sprinting toward a demo or field test, the team ramps up - nights, weekends, whatever it takes to ship. When the sprint lands, we ramp down. We don't manufacture intensity for show.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary + equity
• United Health Care medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Flexible 18 days PTO + 5 sick days
• Travel to field test events and range days
• Covered daily lunches and office snacks + drinks
• E-bike / scooter stipend ( Up to $500)
• Direct access to leadership and real ownership over your work

Export Control Notice:

This role requires access to export-controlled information or items that require "U.S. Person" status. As defined by U.S. law, individuals who are any one of the following are considered to be a "U.S. Person": (1) U.S. citizens, (2) legal permanent residents (a.k.a. green card holders), and (3) certain protected classes of asylees and refugees, as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).