Embedded Software Engineer

Technology Advancement Group (TAG) is a veteran-owned systems integrator in Ashburn, Virginia. We design, build and integrate assured positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) hardware and software for the Department of Defense and the companies that build for it. Our products include anti-jam CRPA antennas, horizon-nulling antennas and a miniature M-code GPS receiver. All of them are shipping today, with test data behind them, and our engineers integrate them into the systems our customers already run.

We're hiring an Embedded Software Engineer to architect and build the software inside our next generation of PNT products. You'll report to our Technical Director and play a lead architecture and development role: evaluating and selecting processors and subsystems, writing embedded code for single-core and multi-core processors, and integrating civilian and military next-generation GNSS receivers, inertial measurement units (IMUs) and other state-of-the-art sensors. There's no large software organization behind you here, so you'll own decisions from processor selection to the code that ships, working side by side with our hardware, systems and test engineers. The role is based in Ashburn. We'd prefer you on-site, and a hybrid schedule is possible.

On the Android and Linux side, you'll customize and integrate Android OS for embedded devices and custom hardware. You'll work in the Linux kernel, device drivers, the hardware abstraction layer (HAL) and system services to get the performance, functionality and hardware compatibility our platforms need. You'll lead board bring-up and board support package (BSP) development, develop and optimize drivers for our peripherals, and debug low-level problems from bootloaders to kernel panics and driver failures. You'll analyze and tune performance and power consumption, and keep the platform secure with secure boot, SELinux and dm-verity.

On the microcontroller side, you'll write code and state machines for 32-bit microcontrollers on bare metal, an RTOS or Android. You'll work across SPI, I2C, UART, MIPI, CAN and USB interfaces, GPIOs and interrupts, and integrate wireless links including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LoRa and ISM-band radios. You'll manage power through power islands and power states, core switching and dynamic clocking.

You're an embedded engineer who wants to own the software from the first register read to the fielded product, and you'd rather build the architecture than inherit it.

You live close to the hardware. You're at home with a datasheet, a scope and a debug probe. When a new board comes up dead, you want to be the one who finds out why.

You think in systems. Processor choice, power budget, boot time and security all trade against each other. You weigh them together, and you can explain why you picked what you picked.

You're curious about navigation. You want to know how a GNSS receiver tracks a signal, how an IMU carries the solution when GPS is jammed, and what that means for the code that brings them together. When something is new to you, you read up and keep asking questions until it makes sense.

You don't stop at the symptom. A kernel panic, a dropped interrupt or a driver that fails one boot in fifty doesn't get a workaround from you. You chase it to the root cause and write down what you found.

You own it at small scale. There's no platform team or build engineer to hand work to here. When something is missing, you set it up. When something isn't working, you say so and fix it.

You care who's on the other end. Our products go to warfighters who need to know where they are when GPS is jammed or spoofed. The code you write runs in their hands. You take that seriously, and it shows in your work.

Embedded Linux and Android. You've customized and integrated Android or embedded Linux on custom hardware, working in the kernel, device drivers, the HAL and system services. Pick a platform and you can walk us through what you changed and why.

Board bring-up and BSPs. You've brought up a new board and built or maintained its BSP. You've debugged bootloader, kernel and driver failures on real hardware, and you can describe the hardest one and how you found it.

Microcontroller firmware. You've written firmware and state machines for 32-bit microcontrollers on bare metal and on an RTOS. You've worked with SPI, I2C, UART, MIPI, CAN and USB, GPIOs and interrupts, and you can explain how you handled timing and concurrency.

Processor and architecture decisions. You've evaluated and selected processors or subsystems, or made the major architecture calls, for a product that shipped. You can show us the trade-offs you weighed and what you'd change now.

Multi-core, performance and power. You've written code for multi-core processors and optimized a system's performance and power consumption using power states, core switching or dynamic clocking. You can show us the measurements before and after.

U.S. person status. This position requires access to technical data controlled under U.S. export control laws. Applicants must be U.S. persons as defined in the ITAR (22 CFR 120.62): U.S. citizens and nationals, lawful permanent residents, and persons admitted as refugees or granted asylum.

Clearance eligibility. You must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance, which requires U.S. citizenship.

GNSS and inertial sensors. You've integrated GNSS receivers, IMUs or other navigation sensors, and ideally a military receiver. You understand how their data comes together into position and time.

Wireless protocols. You've integrated Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LoRa or other ISM-band radios on an embedded device.

Platform security. You've implemented secure boot, SELinux policy or dm-verity, and kept a device compliant through software updates.

Active clearance. You already hold a current U.S. government security clearance, at any level.