Embedded Firmware Engineer

About You and The Role

Zipline aircraft depend on embedded firmware to execute critical flight and safety functions across a network of microcontrollers and embedded Linux computers. This software must perform reliably as aircraft move from manufacturing into delivery operations at field sites around the world, including locations that are difficult to access over a network.

You will own C++ firmware and supporting tools that are critical to the safety and operation of these systems. While making the system more observable and easier to diagnose at scale. Working alongside electrical, mechanical, embedded Linux, and systems engineers, you will turn hardware behavior and flight data into reliable, maintainable software for deployed aircraft.

What You'll Do

• Design and build C++ firmware for a distributed system of aircraft microcontrollers.
• Develop reliable Ethernet, serial, and other microcontroller communication interfaces.
• Define platform-level interfaces and reusable firmware components that support multiple aircraft subsystems.
• Own the predictable and reliable performance of our microcontroller systems and the communication buses that connect them, across startup, real-time operation, fault handling, and recovery.
• Optimize real-time behavior, including CPU utilization, memory usage, scheduling latency, timing jitter, and resource contention.
• Develop metrics, monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities to prepare the system for field deployment at scale.
• Develop Rust-based tooling and software-in-the-loop simulations to test and validate firmware behavior.

What You'll Bring

• Strong software engineering skills and production experience writing C++ for embedded or resource-constrained systems.
• Experience with embedded communications, such as Ethernet, serial interfaces, or other hardware communication protocols.
• Experience designing and debugging real-time firmware, including task scheduling, interrupts, concurrency, synchronization, and memory constraints.
• Experience building and maintaining real-world deployed embedded systems, and handling the long tail of edge cases to ensure consistent safety, reliability, and high performance.
• A systems mindset and intuition for debugging; when anything could be wrong, you know how to narrow down the possibilities.
• Fluency in implementing peripheral drivers based on electrical schematics and datasheets, and debugging at this boundary in order to support prototype hardware evaluation.
• Our team uses a hybrid in-office and distributed work environment, centered around our headquarters in South San Francisco, CA. You must be able to work from the office on a regular basis.

What Else You Need To Know

The starting cash ranges for this role is $160,000 - $250,000. Please note that this is a target, starting cash range for a candidate who meets the minimum qualifications for this role. The final cash pay for this role will depend on a variety of factors, including a specific candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, working location, and projected impact. The total compensation package for this role may also include: equity compensation; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more. This position may be hired at one of three levels based on the candidate’s experience, skills, and demonstrated scope:

• Software Engineer II: $160,000 - $190,000
• Senior Software Engineer: $190,000 - $220,000
• Staff Software Engineer: $220,000 - $250,000

We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.