Embedded Software Engineer - Airborne Stabilized Optical Systems

PVLabs • Burlington, ON

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

As an Embedded Software Designer at PVLabs, you design and build real-time software systems that sit at the core of our airborne optical platforms. Your work spans the full lifecycle—architecture, design, implementation, verification, debug, deployment, and long-term evolution—of software that directly controls flight-proven, stabilized gimbals and ISR payloads. PVLabs treats software as a product, not a by-product. The architecture is modular, component-driven, and intentionally designed for change. You'll work on distributed, multi-processor real-time systems where clarity, testability, and long-term maintainability matter as much as raw performance. Monolithic codebases and just make it work thinking don't survive here. You'll collaborate closely with systems, electrical, mechanical, and optical engineers—not as support, but as a peer—bringing software judgment to the table as we solve hard problems in stabilization, sensing, and control within demanding operational environments.

Requirements

• Eligibility to meet Controlled Goods Program requirements and hold a Canadian Security Clearance
• Strong C++ and C experience in real-time embedded systems
• Multi-process and multi-threaded application development
• Embedded development on microcontroller and FPGA SoC platforms
• Proficiency with debugging tools (e.g., GDB)
• Comfort in Linux-based, command-line development environments
• Experience with common embedded communication protocols (UART, I²C, SPI, CAN, Ethernet)
• Scripting with Bash and Python; fluent with Git
• Ability to read and understand electrical schematics
• Degree or technical diploma in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent experience

Nice To Haves

• Board Support Package (BSP) porting to new hardware
• Linux driver development
• Designing for aircraft safety and certification constraints
• GPU architecture and CUDA programming
• MATLAB experience

Responsibilities

• Architect, design, implement, and verify complex real-time embedded software in C++ (with some legacy C) across multi-processor systems
• Actively participate in—and often lead—design and code reviews with a critical, constructive mindset
• Work with cross-disciplinary teams to ensure requirements are understood, documented, and traceable
• Develop software aligned with military-class development and verification standards
• Maintain source control, build artifacts, and package integrity to meet both internal and customer expectations
• Contribute to—and improve—our engineering standards, knowledge bases, and development workflows

Benefits

• Work on real, fielded technology: stabilized electro-mechanical platforms, high-speed motion control, camera and lens systems, real-time video pipelines, distributed I/O, and advanced laser-enabled payloads.
• Join a team of engineers with serious technical depth and the autonomy to do meaningful work.
• Value Mastery, Autonomy, and Purpose.
• Strive for Resiliency, Innovation, and Productivity.
• Hands-on impact, technical ownership, and work that genuinely matters.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree