Senior Embedded Software Engineer at Rethink recruit
Los Angeles, CA
$160,000–$220,000from the description
Aug 6, 2026
Los Angeles, CA
Sep 24, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A greenfield defense-tech startup is hiring multiple Senior Embedded Software Engineers to each own a critical subsystem — Embedded Linux compute, motor-control firmware, or battery-management firmware — on an autonomous underwater vehicle being built from scratch. The role spans the full lifecycle: architecture, bring-up, verification, field/sea trials, and production support. Candidates need deep low-level systems programming experience and the ability to work closely with hardware teams.
Senior level · 5+ years · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $138,970 (middle half $107,524–$175,762). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Aug 7, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (8)
Location is not stated anywhere in the posting. The company was founded in 2025 and appears to be a startup with no disclosed office location; CBSA and state fields are left blank.
The posting says 'approximately 5 years of relevant embedded software experience preferred' and explicitly notes that demonstrated depth matters more than years — so 5 years is a soft preference, not a hard gate. It is used as the overall years minimum as the best available signal.
U.S. citizenship and eligibility to obtain a security clearance are listed as hard requirements, but the posting does not require an active clearance — only the ability to obtain one. Clearance is therefore not flagged as a current gate.
The three focus areas (Embedded Linux, Motor Control, BMS) are mutually exclusive tracks; candidates are evaluated for fit during interviews. Skills specific to each track are marked as preferred rather than universally required.
The posting mentions 'plus equity and commission' alongside the base salary range; 'commission' is unusual for an engineering role and may be a drafting error (possibly intended as 'bonus').
The low-level systems programming language requirement is intentionally left open — the posting names no specific language. C/C++ and Rust are the canonical choices in this domain and are captured as alternatives.
The 'board bring-up' and 'hardware/software integration debugging' skills are derived from firm requirement language ('You Should Have') but name a capability rather than a specific named tool; they are included because the posting explicitly gates on them as distinct competencies.
Ignored 4 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): hardware/software integration debugging, static analysis, bootloader development, Linux kernel driver development.
Read the full posting
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