Embedded Linux Software Engineer

AeroVect•Atlanta, GA

About The Position

AeroVect is transforming ground handling through autonomous technology for airlines and ground service providers. As a Platform Engineer, you will own the reliability, performance, and scalability of the software foundation powering its autonomous ground vehicle fleet. You will manage and optimize Ubuntu-based operating system images, middleware, and device drivers that interface with a multi-sensor ROS 2 stack, enabling perception and autonomy teams to develop and deliver production-ready capabilities. The role involves building and maintaining Linux distributions for real-time autonomous vehicle workloads, optimizing ROS 2 middleware and sensor-data flows, developing drivers, and maintaining system networking. You will implement observability and logging, collaborate across engineering teams to identify performance bottlenecks, and harden the platform through security measures and OTA updates. You will also own CI/CD for OS images and driver packages, support field trials and customer pilots on call, and contribute technical documentation and best practices.

Requirements

At least 3 years of experience developing or maintaining Linux-based embedded or robotics platforms.
Deep knowledge of Ubuntu or Linux systems, including package management, systemd, networking, and kernel configuration.
Proficiency in C/C++ and Python.
Experience writing or debugging kernel modules and user-space drivers.
Hands-on experience with ROS 1 or ROS 2 in a production or research setting.
Familiarity with communication buses and protocols including USB, Ethernet, CAN, PCIe, SPI, and I2C.
Strong grasp of real-time performance tuning, profiling tools such as perf, eBPF, and tracing, and resource-constrained optimization.
Experience with Git, Docker/OCI containers, and automated build systems such as Yocto, Buildroot, or similar.

Nice To Haves

Prior work on autonomous vehicles, drones, or other safety-critical robotic systems.
Experience with ptp4l configurations in complex systems.
Experience with v4l2/gstreamer.
Experience with Nvidia Orin/Jetson platforms.
Experience customizing the Linux kernel for PREEMPT_RT or other real-time patches.
Knowledge of DDS internals and QoS tuning for deterministic data delivery.
Familiarity with GPU acceleration frameworks such as CUDA and Vulkan, and heterogeneous compute scheduling.
Experience integrating functional safety libraries and tools, such as MISRA and ISO 26262 compliance workflows.
Comfort working in a fast-paced startup environment and supporting field deployments at airports or other industrial sites.

Responsibilities

Design, build, and maintain custom Ubuntu/Linux distributions for real-time, safety-critical autonomous vehicle workloads.
Optimize and tune ROS 2 DDS middleware, such as Cyclone DDS and Fast DDS, for low-latency, high-throughput multi-sensor data flows.
Develop, integrate, and maintain kernel modules and user-space drivers for LiDARs, cameras, radars, GNSS/INS, CAN, and other vehicle interfaces.
Maintain and expand system network interfaces.
Implement observability and logging solutions to monitor system health, performance, and resource utilization in lab and field deployments.
Collaborate with autonomy, perception, and controls engineers to profile CPU/GPU usage and remove bottlenecks across the stack.
Harden the platform for production by applying security patches, enforcing secure boot, and implementing over-the-air update pipelines.
Own CI/CD pipelines for OS images and driver packages, and automate build, test, and deployment processes.
Provide on-call support for platform components during field trials and customer pilots.
Contribute technical documentation and best-practice guidelines for internal and external developers.