Senior Firmware Engineer

About the role

Antares is seeking a Senior Firmware Engineer to develop the embedded software for our innovative microreactor hardware. This role involves creating the firmware that ensures reliable, real-time operation of our first-of-a-kind reactor systems. You will be instrumental in bridging custom electronics with the reactor's control infrastructure, translating various signals and commands into dependable hardware behavior.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Design, build, test, and maintain firmware for reactor instrumentation, control, and monitoring systems.
• Develop embedded software using C/C++ for microcontrollers, embedded processors, and real-time platforms.
• Perform initial hardware bring-up, diagnose board-level issues, and validate firmware using lab equipment like oscilloscopes and logic analyzers.
• Implement communication protocols such as SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, Ethernet, or RS-485.
• Create firmware for sensor data acquisition, actuator control, telemetry, diagnostics, and system health monitoring.
• Work with electrical engineers on schematics, board design reviews, and hardware/software interface definitions.
• Collaborate with systems, software, test, and licensing teams to meet safety, reliability, and regulatory requirements.
• Participate in design reviews to ensure firmware designs are sound, testable, and traceable.
• Support hardware-in-the-loop testing, automated test frameworks, and integration efforts.
• Develop firmware test plans, verification procedures, and documentation for controlled releases.
• Analyze failure modes, define safe states, and implement fault-handling logic for embedded systems.
• Lead root-cause investigations for firmware, electrical, and integration problems through bench testing and system-level debugging.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of experience developing production software in C, C++, Python, Rust, or similar languages for hardware-integrated, distributed, embedded, robotics, aerospace, automotive, industrial, or mission-critical systems.
• Experience building multi-threaded or multi-process software systems, including IPC, networking, message passing, or publish/subscribe architectures.
• Experience integrating software with sensors, controllers, DAQs, power supplies, embedded systems, or other hardware interfaces.
• Strong debugging skills across software, hardware, and system-integration boundaries.
• Ability to design clear software interfaces, data models, state machines, and testable system behaviors.
• Comfortable working in an environment where requirements evolve through prototype testing, hardware bring-up, and cross-functional design tradeoffs.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, especially when working across software, electrical, controls, test, and systems engineering teams.

Nice to have

• Experience in regulated or safety-critical environments (e.g., nuclear, aerospace, defense, automotive, medical devices).
• Experience with real-time systems, RTOS-based development, bare-metal firmware, or safety-critical embedded software.
• Experience with hardware bring-up, board-level debugging, root-cause analysis, and firmware validation.
• Experience developing firmware for sensors, actuators, power electronics, control systems, data acquisition, or telemetry systems.
• Exposure to Hardware in the Loop testing, automated test frameworks, simulation environments, or continuous integration for embedded systems.
• Familiarity with bootloaders, firmware update mechanisms, device drivers, low-level peripherals, and embedded communication stacks.
• Familiarity with software or firmware development processes for configuration-controlled systems.
• Familiarity with relevant standards, guidance, or development practices in safety-critical systems, including IEEE, IEC, DO-178C, DO-254, IEC 61508, ISO 26262, or DOE nuclear standards.
• Experience contributing to formal design reviews, hazard analyses, verification plans, or qualification documentation.
• Demonstrated ability to take ownership of ambiguous embedded systems problems and drive them to closure.

Skills & tools

• C/C++
• Python
• Rust
• SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, Ethernet, RS-485
• Oscilloscopes
• Logic analyzers
• Multimeters
• Power supplies

Practical notes

Applicants must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident, Refugee, or Asylee, or eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State, to comply with U.S. Government export regulations (ITAR).