Senior Software Engineer

Stealth Co•San Diego, CA

14h•Onsite

About The Position

We are a startup building complex, performance-critical software and hardware systems at the intersection of instrumentation, algorithms, and data. We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer who is equally comfortable writing low-level C/C++ for embedded targets and building higher-level Python applications that tie a system together. You will write production code that spans from device-level firmware interfaces up through orchestration software that coordinates the electrical, fluidic, and mechanical subsystems of a complex instrument. This is a hands-on engineering role for someone who likes working close to the hardware, enjoys making messy real-world systems behave predictably, and takes pride in clean, well-tested code. You will work closely with hardware, firmware, algorithm, and application engineers to take instrument subsystems from prototype to production.

Requirements

BS in Computer Science or Engineering with 5+ years or MS with 3+ years of professional software engineering experience building production systems
Strong C/C++ skills, including comfort reading and debugging existing codebases
5+ years of Python experience and proven ability to design, build, and ship application-level software
Hands-on experience with embedded development — talking to real hardware, working with constrained environments, and dealing with the failure modes that come with both
Hands-on experience with application development — services, APIs, user-facing tools, or orchestration software
Strong Linux skills: comfortable on the command line, debugging system behavior, and working with build toolchains
Solid git fundamentals and good code hygiene — clear commits, readable diffs, useful tests, careful reviews
Comfortable with Docker and containerized development and deployment workflows

Nice To Haves

Experience building multi-component orchestration software for systems that combine electrical, fluidic, and mechanical subsystems (instruments, lab automation, robotics, manufacturing equipment, or similar)
Experience designing state machines or control software for multi-step physical protocols
Comfort working alongside hardware, firmware, and mechanical engineers — and translating their constraints into software
Experience with CI/CD pipelines and build systems (CMake, Make, or similar)
Background in scientific instrumentation, biosensor platforms, lab automation, or medical devices
Experience with real-time or near-real-time control software
Familiarity with common embedded interfaces and protocols (Modbus, CANopen, EtherCAT, gRPC, MQTT, etc.)
Experience in regulated development environments (FDA, ISO, or similar)

Responsibilities

Write production-quality C/C++ for embedded targets and resource-constrained environments
Build Python applications and services that orchestrate, monitor, and expose instrument behavior
Develop and maintain device drivers, hardware abstraction layers, and communication interfaces (serial, USB, Ethernet, CAN, SPI, I2C)
Bridge embedded subsystems and higher-level application logic through clean, well-defined interfaces
Debug across the stack — from a misbehaving sensor or actuator up to an unhappy application thread
Design and implement the software that coordinates electrical, fluidic, and mechanical subsystems into a working instrument
Build state machines and control loops that move the system through complex, multi-step protocols reliably
Handle the realities of real-world hardware — timing, failure modes, recovery, calibration, interlocks, and safety
Define interfaces and contracts between subsystem controllers, the orchestration layer, and the user-facing application
Instrument the system so that when something goes wrong on a wet bench at 2am, the logs actually tell you why
Develop and deploy on Linux — both desktop and embedded
Build and maintain Docker images and containerized workflows for development, testing, and deployment
Manage build environments, dependencies, and reproducibility across developer machines and target hardware
Debug system-level issues involving processes, devices, networking, and resource contention
Write code that other engineers can read, extend, and trust — clear interfaces, sensible abstractions, useful tests
Use git fluently for branching, review, bisecting, and clean history
Participate in code review as a thoughtful reviewer and a graceful author
Build small, sharp tools that make the team faster — not large frameworks that slow them down