We’re ALTEN Technology USA, an engineering company helping clients bring groundbreaking ideas to life—from advancing space exploration and life-saving medical devices to building autonomous electric vehicles. With 3,000+ experts across North America, we partner with leading companies in aerospace, medical devices, robotics, automotive, commercial vehicles, EVs, rail, and more.
As part of the global ALTEN Group—57,000+ engineers in 30 countries—we deliver across the entire product development cycle, from consulting to full project outsourcing.
When you join ALTEN Technology USA, you’ll collaborate on some of the world’s toughest engineering challenges, supported by mentorship, career growth opportunities, and comprehensive benefits. We take pride in fostering a culture where employees feel valued, supported, and inspired to grow.
Workplace: On-site, 5 days per week
Location: Mountain View, CA
Salary: $140-160k
Our client is the first non-military unmanned aircraft company to receive FAA Type Certification (2022) and operate under an FAA Production Certificate. We’re seeking an Embedded Systems Engineer to make the boards, sensors, and software on our aircraft and ground stations work together as reliable systems. Working at the boundary between hardware and software, you’ll define interfaces and requirements, bring up and integrate new boards and peripherals, and prove they work through bench, hardware-in-the-loop, and flight testing. You’ll work closely with our Electrical, Mechanical, and Onboard Software teams, alongside senior engineers who will help you grow your scope.
Responsibilities
• Integrate boards, sensors, actuators, and communication links into working subsystems on our aircraft and ground stations
• Define and document subsystem requirements and interfaces, including messages, timing, power, and failure behavior across CAN, SPI, I2C, UART, and BLE
• Bring up new boards and hardware revisions with Electrical, and write the firmware and test code needed to exercise them
• Plan and run subsystem verification, from bench and hardware-in-the-loop testing through flight test, including test plans, acceptance criteria, and sign-off
• Contribute to component and sensor selection and trade studies, and review schematics and designs with Electrical
• Triage integration and field issues across hardware, firmware, and comms, and collaborate with Electrical, Mechanical, Onboard Software, Operations, Safety, and Production
Required Qualifications
• BS in Electrical, Computer, or Systems Engineering, or a related field
• 3+ years in embedded systems, hardware/software integration, or test
• Working proficiency in C/C++ for firmware and test tooling, plus Python for automation and data analysis
• Solid knowledge of embedded communication protocols (CAN, SPI, I2C, UART) and how to debug them
• Comfort reading board-level schematics and datasheets, and debugging at the signal level using oscilloscopes and logic analyzers
• Experience writing requirements, test plans, and acceptance criteria, and verifying a subsystem against them
• Ability to support flight test needs and debug systems rapidly at our flight test facility
• Clear technical communication and strong cross-disciplinary teamwork in a fastpaced environment
Preferred Qualifications
• UAV, autonomous robotics, aerospace, or other safety-critical regulated experience
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop test setups and test automation
• Familiarity with an autopilot stack such as ArduPilot or PX4, and UAV/avionics technologies (ADS-B, GPS/GNSS, LiDAR, radar)
• Experience with embedded Linux on ARM, an RTOS, or bare-metal firmware
• Experience with power systems, battery management systems, or smart battery ICs
• Experience with environmental, EMI/EMC, or reliability testing
• Familiarity with systems engineering practices such as interface control documents, requirements traceability, or FMEA
• Experience using AI coding assistants to accelerate development
• Hands-on PCB, wiring harness, or lab prototyping experience
Salary Range
• $140,000 - 160,000
• The actual salary offered is dependent on various factors including, but not limited to, location, the candidate’s combination of job-related knowledge, qualifications, skills, education, training, and experience
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, genetic information, or pregnancy.
Please beware of job seeker scams and see this important notice on our careers page for more information about our recruiting process.
Compliance Notice: Alten USA is a federal contractor subject to the requirements of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) and Executive Order 11246. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.
Drug Screening Requirement: As a federal contractor, Alten USA maintains a drug-free workplace. All candidates selected for employment will be required to successfully complete a pre-employment drug screening as a condition of hire.
Skills Required
- 6+ years of production embedded software or firmware engineering experience
- Strong C and C++ design and programming skills
- Experience with software engineering practices including code review, source control, build systems, test-driven development, and static analysis
- Proficiency with embedded Linux for ARM, including kernels, device drivers, and board support
- Experience with bare-metal or RTOS firmware development
- Functional knowledge of CAN, SPI, I2C, UART, and BLE communication protocols
- Experience selecting microcontrollers and bringing up peripherals, sensors, and actuators
- Ability to read board-level schematics and datasheets
- Experience debugging at the signal level using oscilloscopes or logic analyzers
- Proficiency with version control and peer code review workflows, such as Git
- Excellent technical communication and cross-disciplinary teamwork skills
- UAV, autonomous robotics, aerospace, or other safety-critical regulated experience
- Experience with real-time operating systems
- Familiarity with ArduPilot or PX4 and UAV or avionics technologies
- Experience with CMake, Make, or Waf build systems
- Experience with Docker or other containerized build and test environments
- Experience optimizing C or C++ algorithms for high data throughput
- Experience with battery management systems or smart battery integrated circuits
- Experience using AI coding assistants
- Relevant mechanical, aerospace, or electrical engineering experience
What We Do
ALTEN Technology USA is an engineering consulting company that provides innovative solutions for engineering, IT, and product development projects across the product life cycle. For decades, ALTEN Technology USA has been helping clients develop products that are changing the world, whether by shaping the future of space exploration, saving lives with medical devices that set new standards of care or creating the fully autonomous electric taxi of tomorrow. The company provides support across industries including aerospace, defense, MedTech and life sciences, unmanned systems and robotics, automotive OEM and tier 1 suppliers, commercial vehicles, electric vehicles, energy and environment, rail, and more.
Why Work With Us
Potential clients in the industries we serve, Professionals in the Industries, and Potential employees within New Product Development, Engineering Services, Sustaining Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Embedded Electronics Engineering, Software Engineering and IT, Mechanical Engineering, and Systems Engineering.
