Firmware Engineer

About the Role

This role is built for a hands-on firmware engineer who has explored embedded systems through academic projects or space club work and is ready to apply that curiosity in a real-world spacecraft hardware environment. The engineer will work on firmware for ADCS components — reaction wheels, star trackers, and torque rods — contributing to the full development cycle from bring-up to validation. This is a ground-floor opportunity to grow with a fast-moving deep-tech startup building critical infrastructure for the commercial space industry.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain firmware for ADCS hardware components including reaction wheels, star trackers, and torque rods
• Assist in bring-up, integration, and testing of embedded firmware on spacecraft subsystems
• Write and debug low-level embedded code for microcontrollers used in space-grade hardware
• Support hardware-software integration testing and document firmware behavior against hardware specifications
• Collaborate with hardware engineers to validate sensor interfaces and communication protocols
• Contribute to firmware version control, code reviews, and documentation practices
• Participate in troubleshooting and root cause analysis during component testing and qualification

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Hands-on project experience with microcontrollers — demonstrated through coursework, personal, or club projects
• Working knowledge of C for embedded/firmware development
• Exposure to communication protocols such as I2C, SPI, UART, or CAN
• Active participation in a college space club, satellite team, or aerospace project (e.g., CanSat, CubeSat, rocketry, or ADCS subsystem work)

Qualifications

• 0–1 year of experience in firmware or embedded systems development (academic projects count)
• Project experience specifically on ADCS subsystems — attitude sensing, reaction wheels, or control algorithms
• Familiarity with RTOS concepts (FreeRTOS or similar) in an embedded context
• Exposure to hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing or spacecraft simulation environments
• Experience with version control tools such as Git in a team project setting
• Prior internship or project collaboration with a space startup, ISRO student program, or aerospace research lab