Firmware Engineer II

Firefly Aerospace•Cedar Park, TX

About The Position

Firefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company that provides launch vehicles, lunar landers, and orbital vehicles for government and commercial customers. The Firmware Engineer II helps design, develop, test, and integrate embedded flight software for Firefly spacecraft. The role works with a group of software engineers throughout spacecraft software development and collaborates with other engineering teams. The position focuses on embedded firmware for microcontrollers and microprocessors, including bare-metal and RTOS applications, low-level drivers, communication protocols, and real-time system firmware. It also contributes to integration, debugging, validation, performance optimization, code reviews, and design documentation. Optional work may include FPGA integration or custom embedded OS builds.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
At least 3 years of professional experience in embedded firmware development in Linux environments.
Proven experience delivering real-world industry projects involving embedded firmware developed as bare-metal or RTOS applications, such as FreeRTOS or Zephyr.
Strong C/C++ programming skills for embedded systems.
Experience with communication protocols such as I2C, SPI, UART, CAN, USB, or Ethernet, and with real-time system constraints.
Familiarity with debugging tools such as JTAG, SWD, oscilloscopes, and logic analyzers, and with embedded development environments.

Nice To Haves

Experience in assembly language.
Experience developing C++ applications for embedded systems.
Proficiency in CI/CD workflow development for embedded firmware projects, such as TeamCity or GitLab CI.
Experience with FPGA development, including firmware integration with FPGA designs.
Familiarity with custom OS builds using Yocto, Buildroot, or similar embedded Linux build systems.

Responsibilities

Design, develop, and test embedded firmware for microcontrollers and microprocessors in bare-metal or RTOS environments.
Architect and implement low-level drivers, communication protocols, and system-level firmware for real-time applications.
Collaborate with hardware engineers to define system architecture, debug hardware/firmware interactions, and ensure seamless integration.
Optimize firmware for power efficiency, performance, and memory constraints in resource-limited embedded systems.
Participate in code reviews, maintain high-quality code standards, and document firmware designs and processes.
Contribute to system-level debugging, performance profiling, and validation of embedded systems.
Optionally support FPGA integration, including firmware interfacing with FPGA designs, or contribute to custom OS builds using tools like Yocto or Buildroot.