Senior Embedded Software Designer at kepler in Toronto, Ontario

Job description

• We're on the hunt for a top-tier Embedded Software Engineer. Your focus will be on software development and maintenance required for both space and ground-based assets for a growing fleet of spacecraft. You'll be relied upon for input and decisions that will directly impact design and operation.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain reliable, high-quality embedded software for both spacecraft and ground-based systems supporting a growing fleet of satellites
• Design and implement secure communications capabilities, including encryption, authentication, and key exchange for next-generation data links
• Build and maintain low-level software components including device drivers, kernel modules, hardware interfaces, and platform services
• Develop automated tests, validation tools, and technical documentation to support robust software delivery and long-term maintainability
• Participate in software architecture discussions, design reviews, and code reviews to ensure software quality and system reliability
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to define system requirements, debug complex issues, and evolve system architecture
• Identify performance gaps, reliability risks, and architectural shortcomings in existing systems, and drive improvements across the software stack
• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and guidance to junior engineers while contributing to engineering best practices and development standards

Requirements

• 6+ years of experience developing embedded software for complex, high-reliability systems
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
• Strong software engineering fundamentals, including system design, debugging, testing, performance analysis, and maintainable code development
• Proficiency in C/C++ for embedded systems, including concurrency, interrupt handling, memory-mapped peripherals, and hardware communication interfaces such as SPI, I2C, UART, and CAN
• Experience developing software for embedded Linux and/or RTOS environments, including familiarity with build systems such as Yocto/OpenEmbedded and operating systems such as FreeRTOS
• Experience developing low-level embedded Linux components including kernel modules, device drivers, and device tree integrations
• Experience developing and maintaining automated test frameworks, validation tooling, or hardware/software integration test environments
• Strong cross-functional collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively across software, hardware, and operations teams
• Proficiency with modern software development workflows and tools, including Git-based version control and code review practices
• Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field
• Experience developing software for aerospace applications
• Experience implementing embedded security solutions such as secure boot, hardware security modules (HSMs), certificate/key management, authentication, or encrypted communications
• Familiarity with Linux networking concepts and infrastructure, including routing, interfaces, netlink, or packet-processing pipelines
• Experience developing multi-stage bootloaders
• Strong knowledge of computer networking and modern networking protocols
• Experience with RTL (Verilog and/or VHDL) and embedded SoCs

Skills

Required

• C/C++
• Embedded Linux
• RTOS
• Yocto/OpenEmbedded
• FreeRTOS
• Kernel modules
• Device drivers
• Device tree
• SPI
• I2C
• UART
• CAN

Benefits

• * Competitive compensation with a robust equity plan to share in our success.
• * Comprehensive coverage for health, dental, and vision insurance—including dependents.
• * Unlimited vacation, supportive parental leave policy, and company-wide holiday shutdown.
• * Semi-annual company-wide parties and frequent in-office team events.
• * Relocation packages available for approved roles.
• * $1,500 annual professional development fund to support your growth.
• * Fully stocked Toronto office kitchen with snacks, drinks, games and top-notch kitchen appliances.
• * Town Halls, Celebration Calls, and Company-wide events to stay connected and engaged.
• * We’re a certified Great Place to Work®, seven years in a row!
• Actual total compensation will be determined at the Company’s discretion and is based on a variety of job-related factors, which may include, but are not limited to, relevant knowledge, skills, experience, performance, and education and/or training. The Company encourages all qualified applicants to apply, even if the posted salary range does not align with their expectations, as it does not reflect our total compensation package.