Senior Command and Control Software Engineer

Senior Command and Control Software Engineer

Forterra is a leading provider of autonomous systems for ground-based movement in the working world. The company is among the earliest innovators in the field of driverless technology, focused on building systems which protect front-line soldiers and enable civilian workers in our industrial base. Forterra is a go-to provider of autonomous solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense, which harnesses autonomy for asymmetric warfare in critical conditions.

About The Role

As an extension of our core products in Command, Control, and Communications (C3) we are diving deeper into the EW space to make the systems and platforms we integrate more survivable. We are developing an Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO) capability that will provide broad spectrum awareness that can aid national government off-the-shelf assets in the EMS. For communication, this will provide a real time database of inference and unoccupied spectrum to aid maneuver. For Electromagnetic Warfare (EW), this will, in parallel, provide a tip and queue interface to enable current EW and Signals Intelligence systems to more rapidly identify signals of interest driving toward an open "plug-and-play" approach with national government off-the-shelf assets.

We are looking for a senior embedded engineer to own software end-to-end on our edge devices — from the real-time signal-processing pipeline up through the data contracts and command-and-control interfaces that turn spectrum awareness into actionable, operator-facing information. You'll set technical direction on a small, fast-moving team and ship to deployed hardware.

What You'll Do

• Develop edge software and real-time pipelines in modern C++ that run on deployed NVIDIA Jetson (ARM/Linux) devices and support Command & Control (C2) systems
• Build low-latency, high-throughput data flows between processing stages using zero-copy IPC and pub/sub messaging (e.g. iceoryx2, ZeroMQ)
• Integrate edge software with radios and RF front-ends; work close to the signal — IQ data, spectral processing, detection, and direction finding
• Design and own wire-level data formats, packet ABIs, and interface contracts (e.g. Protobuf) that guarantee reliable data exchange across systems and teams
• Design and implement event-driven alerting and architecture that surface important information about sensor detections
• Develop telemetry software for edge devices that communicate with remote C2 systems, and build and maintain on-device storage for operational and sensor data
• Integrate and optimize edge ML inference (e.g. TensorRT / ONNX) into the real-time path where it adds operational value
• Own the build and deployment workflow (CMake, Conan, Docker) and drive hardware-in-the-loop bring-up
• Work closely with systems, hardware, and integration teams to deliver end-to-end functionality, and set technical direction for the embedded codebase

Minimum Qualifications:

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with substantial time in edge, embedded, or systems-level environments
• Strong modern C++ (C++17/20) on Linux, plus Python for tooling and automation
• Experience building real-time or low-latency systems: deterministic pipelines, queuing, concurrency, and processing under throughput and timing constraints
• Demonstrated ownership of wire-level data formats, custom protocols, or packet/interface contracts (Protobuf or equivalent)
• Comfort with C++ build and dependency tooling (CMake, a package manager such as Conan) and containerized dev/deploy workflows (Docker)
• Track record of taking embedded software from bring-up through deployment on real hardware, working across firmware, host software, sensors, and integration teams
• Ability to set technical direction and own a meaningful slice of architecture on a small team

Preferred Qualifications:

• RF / DSP fundamentals: IQ data, spectral processing, detection, or direction finding
• Experience on NVIDIA Jetson or comparable ARM/SoC edge platforms
• Zero-copy IPC or shared-memory pub/sub frameworks (iceoryx2, DDS, or similar)
• Edge ML inference deployment (TensorRT, ONNX)
• Sensor integration and fusion (IMU, multi-rate sensor inputs)
• Background in defense, EW/SIGINT, or other mission-critical real-time systems

US Salary Range $140,000—$220,000

The salary range for this role is an estimate and is based on a wide variety of compensation factors. The salary offered to candidates will vary based on a variety of factors including (but not limited to) relevant work experience, education, specialized training, critical expertise, training, and more. Equity in Forterra is included in most of our full-time, high-demand roles and is therefore considered part of Forterra's overall compensation package. In addition to base salary and equity, Forterra offers competitive benefits for full-time employees including:

• Premium Healthcare Benefits: Three plan options, including an HSA-eligible plan, with Forterra covering 80% of the plan premium for you and your dependents.
• Basic Life/AD&D, short and long-term disability insurance plans 100% covered by Forterra, plus the option to purchase additional life insurance for you and your dependents.
• Extremely generous company holiday calendar including a winter break in December.
• Competitive paid time off (PTO) offering 20 days accrued per year.
• A minimum of 7 weeks fully paid parental leave for birth/adoption.
• A $9k annual tuition reimbursement or professional development stipend.
• Fully stocked beverage refrigerators with all the Celsius your little heart desires.
• 401(k) retirement savings plan, including traditional, Roth 401(k), and after-tax deferral with company match up to 4%.

Your recruiter will be able to share more information about our salary and benefits offering during the hiring process.

Forterra is an equal-opportunity employer, providing and promoting equal employment opportunity in accordance with local, state, and federal laws. Forterrans are unique, talented individuals who are united through a shared passion to deliver autonomous systems that enable national resilience and a robust supply chain. All qualified applications will receive equal consideration for employment.

The pay range for this role is:

140,000 - 220,000 USD per year (ARC)