Embedded Firmware Engineer – HUSKY Bus Platform

Urban Sky•Quinte West, ON

40d•Onsite

About The Position

Urban Sky is seeking an Embedded Firmware Engineer to own the technical development and product evolution of our HUSKY bus platform – the backbone of our stratospheric flight systems. HUSKY provides integrated power distribution, Ethernet-based communications, and onboard compute for our balloon vehicles and customer payloads. This role sits at the intersection of firmware engineering, systems architecture, and product development. As the product lead for HUSKY, you will work closely with the portfolio manager to drive R&D iteration cycles from architecture through validation and handoff to manufacturing. You will also interface directly with defense customers, supporting integration, network accreditation, and cybersecurity compliance requirements. This is a senior, high-ownership role for an engineer who thrives in a vertically integrated startup where decisions at the firmware layer have direct consequences on flight safety, mission success, and customer outcomes.

Requirements

5+ years of embedded firmware engineering experience, with at least 2 years in a lead or senior individual contributor capacity
Proficiency in C and C++ for embedded targets; Python scripting for test automation and tooling is a plus
Strong understanding of network topology, including Ethernet, TCP/IP, UDP, and serial communications protocols
Demonstrated experience with systems architecture, requirements development, and interface definition
Working knowledge of electrical engineering fundamentals sufficient to read schematics, debug hardware, and drive hardware-firmware co-design
Experience with version control (Git), CI/CD pipelines for embedded targets, and configuration management
Excellent technical communication skills; able to produce clear architecture documents, ICDs, and test reports
Self-directed and capable of managing multiple concurrent workstreams in a fast-paced environment
Must be a US Citizen or Permanent Resident
Must be located near Denver, CO
Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance may be required for certain programs

Nice To Haves

Experience with model-based systems engineering (MBSE) tools such as Cameo, MagicDraw, or equivalent
Background working with defense customers or on DoD programs; familiarity with RMF, CMMC, and ATO processes
Experience with cybersecurity controls for networked embedded systems, including NIST SP 800-171 or STIG compliance
Familiarity with aerospace or high-altitude platform avionics, including stratospheric balloon, UAS, or small satellite systems
Experience with FPGAs (Xilinx/AMD or Intel/Altera) and HDL development (VHDL or Verilog)
Background in power electronics firmware, including battery management, solar charging, or DC-DC converter control
Experience bringing hardware-firmware products from R&D through manufacturing transition
Startup or small-team engineering experience

Responsibilities

HUSKY Bus Product Ownership
Serve as the technical product lead for the HUSKY bus platform, owning the firmware architecture and driving iterative development cycles in collaboration with the portfolio manager
Define firmware requirements with the portfolio manager, as informed by hardware trade studies, system-level constraints, and customer mission needs
Lead design reviews, architecture decisions, and trade space analyses for new HUSKY revisions
Manage the transition of validated designs from R&D into the manufacturing pipeline, ensuring design-for-manufacturability and documentation completeness
Maintain version-controlled firmware baselines and establish robust release processes and configuration management practices
Manage and develop firmware configuration tools to enable an automated customer interface
Embedded Firmware Development
Design, develop, and verify embedded firmware for real-time systems operating in the stratospheric environment, including power management, communication schemas, network architecture, and compute subsystems
Develop and maintain firmware for low-level hardware interfaces including I2C, SPI, UART, CAN, and Ethernet
Implement and optimize RTOS-based or bare-metal firmware for microcontrollers and FPGAs as appropriate
Ensure firmware robustness for operation in extreme stratospheric conditions: low temperatures, low pressure, radiation effects, and power constraints
Develop and execute firmware-level unit tests, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test benches, and integration test procedures
Systems Architecture & Model-Based Development
Define and document the HUSKY system architecture, including interface control documents (ICDs), data flow diagrams, and power budgets
Apply model-based systems engineering (MBSE) principles to capture system behavior, manage requirements traceability, and support design verification
Develop and maintain network topology models covering onboard Ethernet, serial communications, and payload interfaces
Collaborate with mechanical and electrical engineers to ensure firmware design is tightly coupled with hardware constraints and thermal/power profiles
Electrical Engineering Interface
Leverage a strong working knowledge of electrical engineering principles to inform firmware design decisions, including signal integrity, power sequencing, and peripheral driver development
Partner with PCB designers and electrical engineers to review schematics, validate hardware bring-up, and debug hardware-firmware interaction issues
Participate in hardware trade studies and component selection decisions where firmware implications are significant
Defense Customer & Cybersecurity Support
Serve as a technical point of contact for defense customers integrating with the HUSKY bus, supporting requirements definition, interface documentation, and integration activities
Support defense cybersecurity and network accreditation efforts, including Risk Management Framework (RMF) processes, STIGs, and authority-to-operate (ATO) activities
Implement and maintain security controls for networked operational systems, including secure boot, encrypted communications, and access control
Interface with government program offices and defense contractors in a professional and technically credible manner
Flight Safety & Reliability
Design firmware with flight safety as a primary constraint, including watchdog management, fault detection and isolation, graceful degradation, and safe-state behaviors
Conduct failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) at the firmware and system level to identify and mitigate risk
Support field operations and anomaly investigations, providing rapid firmware diagnostics and patching as needed
Maintain thorough documentation of known failure modes, workarounds, and operational limitations
Field Operations & Communications Exercises
Support field test flights and customer demonstrations, providing on-site firmware expertise to ensure HUSKY bus systems perform reliably throughout all phases of flight operations
Lead network integration communication exercises with defense customers, evaluating security boundaries, verifying data flows across the HUSKY bus, and validating that network segmentation and access controls perform as designed under operational conditions
Document exercise findings, network architecture decisions, and security boundary assessments; communicate results clearly to both internal engineering teams and defense customer stakeholders
Coordinate with the flight operations team and customer representatives to plan and execute pre-flight network checkout procedures, ensuring all payload communications and security configurations are verified prior to launch