Communications Software Engineer

Background 

The world around us is experiencing significant change, the greatest in generations.   

At McLaren Applied, we’re accelerating the response to that change. Our vision is that our people and technologies will pioneer a better future.  Our mission is to achieve breakthroughs in performance. 

We’re at the cutting edge of innovation in industries including automotive, transportation and motorsport. We create solutions that drive efficiency and cost-effectiveness.  

We want to help to reduce the carbon footprint and become more sustainable.   

This role is in the Connected Intelligence Business unit. Our products have been developed from Formula One technology to provide connectivity services and analytics to a range of customers, primarily in Transportation, but also in Industrial and Motorsport environments. 

By applying our expertise, we deliver real benefits and pioneer a better future. 

Driving Engineering Excellence 

This isn’t just about writing great code; it’s about advocating practices that push high quality engineering. You’ll be in a team reflecting on what went well and what they could have done better and turn those into learning actions. You will take pride in the solutions you and your team develop. 

You’ll be passionate about learning and continuous improvement, both for yourself and for your team. When you learn something new you will want to share it with others. You’ll organize and encourage learning opportunities for you and others and will actively advocate the growth of the knowledge of those around you. 

Purpose of the Role 

You will become one of our key contributors who guide and foster innovation by developing leading edge products that span various market segments including transportation, automotive and motorsport. 

You will work collaboratively to solve interesting and challenging problems in a cross functional team with other engineering disciplines including Data Scientists, Simulation Engineers, Software Engineers, Test Engineers, System Reliability Engineers, Systems Engineers and Hardware Engineers. 

Principal Accountabilities 

As a Communications Software Engineer who is passionate about technology, you will use the most effective and applicable technologies to create scalable, high-performance wireless networking solutions for fleets of vehicles and other physical assets. 

You will develop and maintain reusable software components for a combination of off-the-shelf and bespoke hardware ranging from cloud-based servers to resource-constrained embedded units all running customized Linux environments. 

You will learn how to leverage existing open source software to extend our capabilities, integrating and tailoring software to suit customers’ needs, through clean and consistent coding. 

Location 

This role is based at our head office in central
Woking. The role is included in our hybrid working policy with the expectation of a minimum of three days a week in the office, which should be co-ordinated with other members of the Engineering team. 

Qualifications  

We are looking for an applicant who has: 
 

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, similar technical field of study, or equivalent practical experience. 

• Understanding of TCP/IP networking fundamentals – the different protocol layers and what they’re for, the basics of routing, flow control and congestion avoidance. 

• Proficient at administering, managing and developing
  software for
  Linux-based constrained systems at the command line. 

• Extensive experience in: Bash, Python and preferably Golang. 

• Proficient in developing Object-Orientated applications in at least one language 

• The flexibility to delve into a wide range of activities covering more than writing and testing code, eg resolving kernel and rootfs issues,
  dealing with hardware integration complexities, wrangling AWS IoT deployments/ configuration, getting to the bottom of elusive out-of-band systems behaviour and working closely with systems and hardware engineers to build highly integrated, performant and reliable communications systems. 

• The drive to develop a deep understanding of a diverse technology stack across Connected Intelligence products, zoning into those which intersect with the on-device hardware. 

• Ability to write and speak in English fluently
  
• Coding for Linux Systems 

• Linux tools: bash, git, network manager, modem manager and network tool stack, eg iproute/netcat/ss/etc. 

• Docker and docker-compose  

• Designing, developing and creating RESTful APIs 

• Linux device driver or other kernel development experience, in particular working with the network stack
• Networking Knowledge and Experience 

• Layer 1 and 2 networking knowledge: Ethernet, wireless protocols 

• Development of wireless
  devices: wireless network behaviour, basic protocol knowledge, measurement and testing of device performance 
   

Desirable & Development Areas 

• IoT On-Device Software Experience 

• Experienced in the challenges of deploying, maintaining and measuring/resolving the behaviour systems deployed Over-The-Air. 

• Integration of IoT Linux systems with AWS IoT and AWS Greengrass 

• Appreciation for the security concerns associated with remotely managed devices.
  
• Other software experience 

• Relational databases 

• MQTT messaging 

• CI-CD pipelines and test automation
  
• Good understanding of agile or lean development practices 

What we can offer you 

In return for everything you bring to the table, we can ensure an exciting, challenging role in a dynamic business surrounded by some of the best people in their respective fields.

At McLaren Applied we firmly believe it’s the relationships and friendships we create while working that make us special. We’re also aware that the world is changing and we are part of that change. We all want and need different things from our work and home lives, so, if you have commitments outside of work, we’re open to talking through flexible working options that work for you and us.

• Annual leave (25 days + bank holidays, pro-rated for part time colleagues).
• Enhanced Company Maternity, Paternity and Adoption leave and pay.
• Flexible working policies, including Hybrid Working.
• Life assurance to the value of 4 times base salary
• Opportunity to join the McLaren Applied Pension Plan
• Company funded individual private healthcare with the opportunity to extend to partner or spouse and/or dependents at a discounted rate.
• Ride-to-work with Evans Cycles – take advantage of the Government’s Cycle-to-Work scheme which offers savings of up to 42% on the cost of a new bike, cycling accessories and components.
• Electric car scheme – opportunity to drive a brand-new car in a more affordable way through this salary sacrifice scheme. Employees are eligible to join the scheme after successful competition of their probationary period.

Who we are

McLaren Applied are a medium-sized tech firm spun out of McLaren Group. We’re looking for people who will thrive in a non-hierarchical, growth-orientated company, self-starters who are flexible and somewhat entrepreneurial in their approach.

McLaren Applied are committed to Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) and promote DEI in all we do. McLaren Applied are also members of the UK Government Disability Confident Scheme.