Software Engineer – Systems & Real-Time (RTOS / HIL)

Nominal • Los Angeles, CA

77d • $120,000 - $150,000

About The Position

Nominal is building the software infrastructure that powers the world’s most advanced hardware systems — from spacecraft and autonomous vehicles to next-generation industrial machines. Our platform ingests high-rate telemetry, validates complex autonomy software in real time, and helps engineering teams iterate faster without sacrificing safety or precision. We’re a small, fast-moving team of engineers and operators who own problems end-to-end, work across disciplines, and thrive on solving challenges at the intersection of hardware and software. As a dual-use platform, we're serving top-tier commercial and defense customers, including the U.S. Navy, United States Air Force, Shield AI, and Anduril. We’re backed by top-tier investors — Sequoia, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, and Lightspeed Ventures — who share our mission to accelerate innovation in mission-critical systems. Our team brings experience from SpaceX, Palantir, Anduril, Applied Intuition, and other leading companies, united by a common goal: enabling hardware engineers to push the boundaries of advanced technology with speed, safety, and precision. As a Systems-Level Software Engineer, you’ll architect and implement the real-time backbone of Nominal’s test automation and simulation platform. You’ll work across the full stack of hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) systems, from deterministic task scheduling and bus I/O to distributed telemetry and timing synchronization — ensuring our software behaves predictably under the tightest latency budgets. If you thrive at the boundary between software and the physical world — where timing matters as much as correctness, this role is for you.

Requirements

• 4+ years of systems-level or embedded software development in C++ (C++17 or newer) or Rust, with a deep understanding of real-time constraints and deterministic scheduling.
• Experience with RTOSs such as QNX, RTEMS, FreeRTOS, VxWorks, or Linux PREEMPT-RT.
• Background in HIL or SIL testing, real-time control loops, or simulation frameworks for aerospace, automotive, or robotics.
• Strong grasp of hardware interfaces, timing jitter, interrupt handling, and low-level I/O.
• Familiarity with signal acquisition, control systems, and sensor fusion concepts.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with LabVIEW, NI TestStand, PXI/DAQ systems, or integration with external test equipment.
• Knowledge of time-synchronized networking (PTP/NTP), DDS, or real-time middleware (ROS 2, RTI Connext).
• Ability to debug at multiple layers — from driver-level to distributed telemetry — and to reason clearly about timing and causality.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement hard real-time components for data acquisition, control, and simulation using C++ and/or Rust.
• Develop deterministic communication layers for CAN, EtherCAT, serial, and MIL-STD-1553 or similar field buses.
• Architect the core HIL runtime, including task schedulers, timing controllers, and synchronization primitives.
• Integrate with embedded targets, flight computers, and sensor networks to validate autonomy and control software.
• Collaborate with our infrastructure and visualization teams to connect real-time execution with distributed telemetry, playback, and analysis pipelines.
• Profile, benchmark, and harden low-latency systems to meet microsecond-level timing guarantees.
• Establish testing and verification standards for real-time correctness and timing determinism across the platform.

Benefits

• 100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Unlimited PTO and sick leave
• Free lunch, snacks, and coffee
• Professional Development Stipend
• Annual company retreat

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level