We're building the optical highway to the cosmos
Join us as an Electrical Engineer to write the firmware and control code. You'll own firmware from architecture through hardware bring-up and field debugging, working closely with the electronics team on the boards it runs on.
Responsibilities
● Design and implement real-time embedded firmware in C/C++ for precision control loops, sensor acquisition, and actuation on ARM Cortex-M/R, RISC-V, or equivalent real-time microcontrollers
● Develop and tune closed-loop control algorithms (PID, state-space, observer-based, disturbance rejection) from continuous-domain design through fixed-point or floating-point implementation on target
● Build and maintain communication stacks: SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, RS-422/485, and industrial fieldbus interfaces, with attention to timing budgets and bus arbitration
● Develop bare-metal, RTOS-based (FreeRTOS/Zephyr or similar), and embedded Linux firmware architectures as the deployment demands, with deterministic timing, interrupt design, DMA-driven data paths, and careful memory, watchdog, and clock-tree budgeting
● Implement bootloaders and field firmware-update mechanisms with fail-safe recovery
● Build fault detection, watchdogs, and safety interlocks into every subsystem
● Integrate sensors and actuators, and support hardware bring-up and debug with the electronics team, including schematic review, pin assignment, and interface definition ahead of board layout
● Debug at the hardware level using oscilloscopes, logic analysers, and JTAG/SWD
● Build hardware-in-the-loop test benches, write firmware tests, and support validation and field commissioning
● Maintain disciplined version control, documentation, and code review practices
Requirements
Requirements
● B.Tech/M.Tech in Electronics, Electrical Engineering, ECE, or Computer Engineering
● 2-3+ years of hands-on, professional embedded firmware experience on hardware that has actually shipped — not coursework or simulation-only projects
● Strong C and C++ for embedded systems: memory model, deterministic subsets, register-level driver development
● Deep experience with real-time embedded architectures across ARM Cortex-M/R, RISC-V, Microchip SAM/PIC32, or automotive/aerospace-grade cores (e.g. AURIX/TriCore, RH850, SPARC/LEON) — bare-metal and RTOS development
● Working embedded Linux experience for supervisory or compute-class boards: kernel/BSP bring-up, Yocto or Buildroot, device drivers, U-Boot, and PREEMPT_RT where real-time and general-purpose compute (x86 or ARM-class application processors) coexist on one platform
● Demonstrated experience integrating multiple concurrent sensors and actuators on hardware that shipped to a customer or the field, ideally in automotive, medical device, aerospace/defense, or space systems
● Control systems: multi-loop PID, state-space, observers/Kalman filtering, stability and margin analysis, discretisation for real-time implementation
● Communication protocols: SPI, I2C, UART, CAN/CAN-FD, RS-422/485, plus exposure to at least one higher-determinism or domain-specific bus (FlexRay, Automotive Ethernet/TSN, MIL-STD-1553, SpaceWire, or EtherCAT); experience with real-time timing and bus-loading analysis
● Real-time systems fundamentals: interrupt architecture, DMA, worst-case timing analysis, and jitter measurement
● Circuit and control simulation: MATLAB/Simulink or Python (SciPy/control)
● Strong hardware debugging skills with oscilloscopes, logic analysers, and JTAG/SWD debuggers
● Critical, hands-on PCB and schematic fluency: expected to make and defend hard trade-offs — memory budgeting, watchdog configuration, timer/clock-tree matching, interrupt and clock-domain alignment — jointly with the electronics team, ahead of board layout
● Hands-on soldering, debugging, and board bring-up skills
● Proficiency with version control (Git) and disciplined documentation
● Ability to own a firmware subsystem end-to-end: design, build, test, deploy
Nice-to-Have
● FPGA development (Xilinx/Intel) and Verilog/VHDL, including timing closure on real hardware
● Motor control firmware, including Field-Oriented Control (FOC) and high-resolution encoder interfaces
● Experience with functional safety or safety-critical development practices (ISO 26262, IEC 62304, DO-178C, or ECSS)
● Exposure to AUTOSAR or other automotive/aerospace software architecture standards
● Space-qualified or defense-grade electronics and firmware (MIL-STD-810, DO-160, radiation-tolerant design)
● Precision positioning systems and pointing/tracking control
● Python for tooling, automation, and test scripts
● Published research or patents in relevant fields
Benefits
What We Offer
● Opportunity to build firmware and control systems for next-generation space optical communication from scratch
● World-class lab facilities and test equipment
● Significant equity ownership with early-stage upside potential
● Collaborative Multi-disciplinary research environment
Skills Required
- B.Tech or M.Tech in Electronics, Electrical Engineering, ECE, or Computer Engineering
- 2-3+ years of professional embedded firmware experience on hardware that has shipped
- Strong C and C++ embedded systems programming, including memory models, deterministic subsets, and register-level drivers
- Experience with real-time embedded architectures using ARM Cortex-M/R, RISC-V, Microchip SAM/PIC32, or comparable automotive/aerospace-grade cores
- Bare-metal and RTOS development experience
- Embedded Linux experience including kernel/BSP bring-up, Yocto or Buildroot, device drivers, U-Boot, and PREEMPT_RT
- Experience integrating concurrent sensors and actuators on shipped hardware
- Control systems experience with PID, state-space, observers, Kalman filtering, stability analysis, margin analysis, and discretization
- Communication protocol experience with SPI, I2C, UART, CAN/CAN-FD, and RS-422/485
- Exposure to at least one deterministic or domain-specific bus such as FlexRay, Automotive Ethernet/TSN, MIL-STD-1553, SpaceWire, or EtherCAT
- Understanding of interrupt architecture, DMA, worst-case timing analysis, and jitter measurement
- Circuit and control simulation experience with MATLAB/Simulink or Python SciPy/control
- Strong hardware debugging skills using oscilloscopes, logic analysers, and JTAG/SWD debuggers
- PCB and schematic fluency, including memory, watchdog, timer, clock-tree, interrupt, and clock-domain trade-offs
- Hands-on soldering, debugging, and board bring-up skills
- Proficiency with Git, version control, and disciplined documentation
- Ability to own a firmware subsystem end-to-end from design through deployment
- FPGA development using Xilinx or Intel platforms and Verilog/VHDL, including timing closure
- Motor control firmware experience, including Field-Oriented Control and high-resolution encoder interfaces
- Functional safety or safety-critical development experience with ISO 26262, IEC 62304, DO-178C, or ECSS
- AUTOSAR or other automotive/aerospace software architecture standards experience
- Space-qualified or defense-grade electronics and firmware experience, including MIL-STD-810, DO-160, or radiation-tolerant design
- Precision positioning and pointing/tracking control experience
- Python experience for tooling, automation, and test scripts
- Published research or patents in relevant fields
What We Do
QOSMIC Satellite Systems Pvt. Ltd. is a Bengaluru-based seed-stage deep-tech company building hardware infrastructure for the space industry. Its optical ground stations aim to deliver satellite data downlinks at speeds far exceeding radio-frequency systems, while its Zaphod terminal brings laser communications to satellites. QOSMIC says it has hardware in the field, validated a 5+ km optical link, and is developing a full-stack optical communications platform.
