SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Arkeus builds AI-powered sensing systems for autonomous platforms deployed in defence and national security applications. You will join the Advanced Development Team, reporting to the Head of Software, and take ownership of firmware architecture for next-generation electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) payloads.
Your core responsibilities span firmware design and development, hardware collaboration, and quality/testing. You will design and architect production-grade firmware for multi-microcontroller and SoC-based systems (ARM Cortex-M/R platforms), develop drivers for sensors, imagers, IMUs, motor drivers and communications interfaces (SPI, I²C, UART, CAN, Ethernet, MIPI CSI-2, USB), and define system-level control paths with deterministic timing and low latency. You will build and maintain bootloaders, secure boot chains and robust field-update mechanisms for deployed units. You will collaborate closely with Electronics Engineers during board design and bring-up, diagnose complex hardware/firmware interactions using lab equipment, and contribute to design reviews and tooling selection.
You will write unit tests, on-target tests and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) tests, apply coding standards and static analysis, and produce design documentation supporting AS9100 quality processes. You will handle technical data in line with defence data-security protocols, export controls (ITAR/EAR/DECO) and cybersecurity requirements. You will investigate field-reported issues end-to-end and act as the senior firmware resource, setting standards and providing technical guidance across projects.
In your first 90 days, you will build and flash every active firmware target, understand product architecture end-to-end, ship a meaningful fix or feature through review and release, and contribute to board and sensor bring-up. In your first year, you will own a significant firmware subsystem and measurably improve field reliability, test coverage or HIL automation.
Arkeus is backed by QIC, Main Sequence, R+VC, Salus Ventures, Folklore Ventures, DYNE Ventures and Beaten Zone Venture Partners, and operates at the intersection of optics, autonomy, robotics and real-time AI with technology already deployed protecting lives and strengthening security across the U.S. and allied markets.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 5+ years of professional embedded firmware development with strong experience designing and architecting complex embedded systems
- Experience in aerospace, defence, robotics, automotive, medical or another safety- or mission-critical domain is highly desirable
- Strong C for embedded systems; Rust experience is highly regarded; Python for tooling and test automation
- Essential experience designing and developing firmware across systems with multiple microcontrollers, including inter-processor communications, interfaces, timing and responsibilities
- Comfortable reading schematics and datasheets and using lab equipment to debug at the signal level; experience collaborating with electronics engineers through board design and bring-up
- Strong hands-on experience maintaining and developing bootloaders and robust firmware update mechanisms; experience with secure boot, cryptographic image signing or field-update systems is highly desirable
- Demonstrated experience designing or working with hardware-in-the-loop test environments and using them to validate complex firmware behaviour and system-level interactions
- Proficiency with Git, code review, CI pipelines, static analysis, automated testing and structured design reviews
- Must hold, or be eligible to obtain, an Australian Government Baseline security clearance, and be able to work with export-controlled technical data
- Ability to make good decisions with incomplete information, take ownership of architecture and technical direction, and adjust quickly when circumstances change
