At Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, we're taking innovation to the next level. From designing the most advanced air vehicle to designing aircraft that defies gravity, our engineers live on the cutting edge of technology. Never have the opportunities for a technical career been so limitless.
This position is with the Core Processing Software team in Fort Worth, TX. This position requires a software engineer to use a wide application of technical principles, theories, and concepts in the software field to develop, integrate, and test software products for the F-35 program. You will be expected to lead in the design, development and integration of middleware software.
Software development experience including requirements analysis, high-level and detailed design, coding, test planning, unit-testing, and CSCI integration testing is desired.
You will be a member of a high-performing team and must be self-motivated with a strong work ethic, time-management, and interpersonal skills. You must have demonstrated effective pro-active communication skills as the position will require frequent inter-organizational and outside customer interactions.
Key Responsibilities
• Kernel & Driver Development
• Design, implement, and maintain Linux device drivers (PCIe, UART, SPI, I²C, etc.) with hard real time guarantees.
• Implement and tune two level interrupt handling (top half/bottom half, threaded IRQs) to achieve microsecond latency.
• Integrate and configure PREEMPT_RT or other real time patches; validate deterministic behavior with kernel tracing tools.
• Real Time Debugging & Performance Analysis
• Perform kernel level debugging (KGDB, ftrace, perf, SystemTap) and use LTTng for low overhead tracing of interrupt paths and task scheduling.
• Conduct latency/jitter analysis, root cause investigations, and apply mitigations such as IRQ affinity, priority inheritance, and priority ceiling protocols.
• Precision Time Protocol (PTP)
• Implement, configure, and troubleshoot PTP (IEEE 1588) on Linux platforms.
• Work with ptp4l, phc2sys, and related utilities to achieve sub microsecond clock synchronization for time critical applications.
• Build & CI/CD Infrastructure
• Maintain Buildroot configurations for cross compiling the full Linux stack (kernel, root filesystem, bootloader) for target hardware.
• Maintain CI pipelines (GitLab CI, Jenkins, etc.) that automate builds, driver unit tests, and generation of firmware/software artifacts.
• Collaboration & Documentation
• Partner with hardware designers to develop device drivers, collaborate with system designers to develop requirements for real-time safety-critical applications.
• Produce clear technical documentation, design reviews, and support guides for internal teams and external partners
- Development on Linux with hard real time extensions (PREEMPT_RT). Specifically developing multi-threaded real-time POSIX applications using real time scheduling policies (SCHED_FIFO, SCHED_RR) in user space, and developing device drivers in kernel space.
- Strong C/C++ skills, x86 and ARM assembly, and familiarity with Python/Bash for scripting and automation
- Debug proficiency with GDB/KGDB, LTTng, strace, dmesg, ftrace, perf, and hardware debug interfaces (JTAG, UART)
- Expertise with Buildroot for creating custom root filesystems and toolchains
- Experience with PTP (IEEE 1588) and implementations such as ptp4l, phc2sys, and related management tools
- Ability to obtain DoD secret clearance
- Bachelor’s degree or above from an accredited college in a software related major, or equivalent experience/combined educatio
• Containerization & Orchestration – Experience packaging real time workloads with Podman (tar ball export/import) and deploying lightweight orchestration using K3s or pure Podman in air gapped environments. Ability to debug containers on target hardware (e.g., podman exec, nsenter, gdbserver, strace, in container LTTng tracing).
• Understanding of namespaces, capes, and cgroups. Knowledge of seccomp (possibly BTF JIT) or AppArmor profiles for sandboxing containers and processes (as an alternative to SELinux).
• Familiarity with the Yocto Project as an analogue for understanding Buildroot
• Understanding of PCIe SR IOV, DMA, and memory mapped I/O for high throughput data paths
• Experience with LynxSecure and the LynxOS operating system
• Contributions to open source kernel, driver, or tracing projects
• Familiar with File I/O
• Familiar with Data Encryption\Decryption
• Familiar with File Information Broker
• Agile Software Development
• Experience with JSF architecture
• Complete software lifecycle development process and test philosophies
• Experience with software pipelines
• Experience using the Python scripting language
• Atlassian Collaboration Tools (JIRA)
Pay Information
Full-Time Salary Range: $120600.00 - $224000.00
At Lockheed Martin, we know mission success starts with taking care of our people. Our Total Rewards program is designed to attract top talent, support your well-being, and help you grow—both professionally and personally.
The salary range for this position is as listed on the requisition. Please note that the salary information listed is a general guideline only. Lockheed Martin considers factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience, education/ training, key skills as well as market(work location) and business considerations when extending an offer.
Benefits offered: Medical, Dental, Vision, Flexible work arrangements and schedules (e.g., 4x10), 401(k) match, Paid time off, Holidays, Parental Leave, EAP, Flexible Spending Accounts, Education Assistance, Life Insurance, Short-Term Disability, and Long-Term Disability.
- Annual short-term and/or long-term incentive compensation programs may be offered depending on the position. Payments under these annual programs are not guaranteed and can vary from year to year and are tied to a range of performance metrics.
- For (Washington state applicants only) Non-represented full-time employees: accrue at least 10 hours per month of Paid Time Off (PTO) to be used for incidental absences and other reasons; receive at least 90 hours for holidays. Represented full time employees accrue 6.67 hours of Vacation per month; accrue up to 52 hours of sick leave annually; receive at least 96 hours for holidays. PTO, Vacation, sick leave, and holiday hours are prorated based on start date during the calendar year.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree or above in a software-related major from an accredited college, or equivalent experience and education
- Linux development experience with hard real-time extensions, including PREEMPT_RT
- Experience developing multithreaded real-time POSIX applications using SCHED_FIFO and SCHED_RR
- Experience developing Linux device drivers in kernel space
- Strong C and C++ skills
- Experience with x86 and ARM assembly
- Familiarity with Python and Bash scripting and automation
- Debugging proficiency with GDB, KGDB, LTTng, strace, dmesg, ftrace, perf, and hardware debug interfaces including JTAG and UART
- Expertise with Buildroot for custom root filesystems and toolchains
- Experience with PTP IEEE 1588, ptp4l, phc2sys, and related management tools
- Ability to obtain a Department of Defense Secret clearance
- Experience packaging real-time workloads with Podman and deploying K3s or Podman in air-gapped environments
- Knowledge of containers, namespaces, capabilities, cgroups, seccomp, BTF JIT, or AppArmor
- Familiarity with the Yocto Project
- Understanding of PCIe SR-IOV, DMA, and memory-mapped I/O
- Experience with LynxSecure and LynxOS
- Contributions to open-source kernel, driver, or tracing projects
- Familiarity with file I/O, data encryption and decryption, and File Information Broker
- Agile software development experience
- Experience with JSF architecture and complete software lifecycle and testing processes
- Experience with software pipelines and Python scripting
- Experience using Atlassian collaboration tools, including JIRA
Lockheed Martin Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Lockheed Martin and has not been reviewed or approved by Lockheed Martin.
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Retirement Support — Retirement benefits are described as a standout element, with a strong 401(k) program and options like an employee stock purchase plan. Feedback suggests these features meaningfully enhance total compensation and long‑term financial security.
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage is portrayed as comprehensive from day one, with multiple plan options, mental health resources, and virtual care. Wellness supports such as on‑site services and preventive programs are also highlighted.
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Flexible Benefits — Work arrangements often include compressed schedules and telework, contributing to a favorable work‑life balance. Feedback suggests this flexibility is a key reason many view the overall package positively.
Lockheed Martin Insights
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