Embedded Software Engineer at Sine Engineering in Bozeman, MT

About Sine Engineering

Sine Engineering builds the technology behind reliable drone autonomy: communications, navigation, and control systems that enable coordinated multi-drone operations at scale. More than 200 UAV manufacturers rely on our technologies, and our solutions power many of the interceptor operations active today.

Through our dual-use platform, we support civilian innovation while helping democratic nations strengthen their technological advantage.

Any drone. Any scale. Anywhere.

We build resilient communication, navigation, and coordination systems for the age of autonomy.

We are seeking an experienced Embedded Software Engineer to join our growing engineering team. In this role, you will design and develop embedded software and firmware for advanced unmanned systems, working on technologies that power communications, navigation, control, and autonomy at scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop embedded software and firmware for high-performance, real-time systems using microcontrollers and embedded Linux SoMs.

• Implement new functionality and enhance existing software supporting unmanned systems control, telemetry, video, communications, and navigation.

• Develop and maintain low-level drivers, hardware abstraction layers (HALs), board support packages (BSPs), and interfaces for sensors, radios, payloads, and other peripherals.

• Integrate embedded software with hardware and third-party systems, including flight controllers, payloads, sensors, SDKs, and APIs.

• Develop and maintain communication interfaces and protocols using SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, USB, Ethernet, and IP-based networking.

• Optimize software for latency, processor utilization, memory usage, power consumption, reliability, and real-time performance.

• Develop and execute unit, integration, bench, and system-level tests; analyze logs and telemetry to validate performance and identify defects.

• Troubleshoot complex issues across embedded software, firmware, hardware, and system interactions, and perform root-cause analysis.

• Collaborate closely with hardware, systems, application software, product, and test teams to deliver robust and maintainable solutions.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or a related technical field. Equivalent practical experience may be considered.

• 3+ years of professional experience developing embedded software, firmware, or low-level systems software.

• Strong proficiency in C and C++, including memory management, data structures, concurrency, and performance-focused development for resource-constrained systems.

• Hands-on experience developing bare-metal and/or RTOS-based firmware. Experience with ARM microcontrollers is strongly preferred.

• Solid understanding of modern microcontroller architectures and peripherals, including interrupts, timers, DMA, ADC/DAC, watchdogs, memory management, and boot processes.

• Experience developing and debugging software on embedded Linux systems, including processes and threads, device I/O, networking, cross-compilation, and command-line development workflows.

• Practical experience with embedded communication interfaces, including SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, USB, and Ethernet.

• Working knowledge of network communication protocols such as TCP/IP and UDP. Experience with RTP, MAVLink, or similar telemetry and video protocols is a plus.

• Strong troubleshooting and debugging skills using tools such as GDB, JTAG/SWD debuggers, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, and software logging/tracing tools.

• Ability to read and interpret schematics, datasheets, interface control documents, and technical specifications to support hardware and software integration.

• Experience with Git-based version control, code reviews, build systems such as CMake and Make, and producing clear technical documentation.

Nice to Have

• Experience developing or integrating software for UAVs, robotics, aerospace, or other autonomous systems.

• Familiarity with flight-control ecosystems and protocols such as PX4, ArduPilot, MAVLink, or similar platforms.

• Experience with embedded Linux BSPs, device trees, Linux device drivers, Yocto, Buildroot, or similar embedded Linux environments.

• Experience with cryptography and embedded cybersecurity concepts, including secure boot, authentication, key management, signed firmware, and secure communications.

• Working knowledge of RF communication systems, telemetry links, video transmission, and link budget analysis.

• Familiarity with ARM assembly programming, low-level optimization, bootloaders, firmware update mechanisms, and field deployment of embedded systems.

What We Offer

Paid Time Off

• 15 days of paid vacation annually.

• 5 personal/sick days per year.

• Leave accrues on a pro-rata basis from your start date.

Health & Insurance

• Eligibility to participate in the company's standard benefits programs, including health, dental, and 401(k) plans, subject to plan terms and eligibility requirements.

• All benefits are subject to the terms, conditions, and eligibility requirements of the applicable benefit plans, which may be amended or terminated by the Company at any time.

Join Us

If you're passionate about building reliable technology for autonomous systems and want to work on solutions shaping the future of UAV communications, navigation, and coordination, we'd love to hear from you.

Apply now and help build the next generation of autonomous systems.