Director of Embedded Software & FPGA Engineering

Wanna join the adventure? Loft Orbital is making space simple, giving commercial, defense, and government customers fast, reliable access to orbit through a standardized satellite platform. Our Hub and Cockpit products cut the complexity of traditional satellite missions, reducing time-to-orbit from years to months as we build a growing, heterogeneous fleet in LEO with increasing onboard AI and compute. As Director, Embedded Systems & FPGA Engineering, you will shape the technical foundations that determine how Loft’s hardware, embedded software, onboard software, and operational systems work together. This is an opportunity to define the abstraction layers and engineering interfaces that let teams move faster without sacrificing robustness, reliability, or system understanding. You will help create a platform that can evolve across processors, FPGAs, operating systems, hypervisors, RISC-V, Rust, and future technologies without forcing unnecessary changes through every layer of the stack. You will lead experienced engineers who work at the intersection of hardware, firmware, software, systems, and operations. The role is hands-on in the technical sense: you will not write production code every day, but you should be comfortable going deep into architecture, Linux and build environments, debugging, security boundaries, integration problems, and technical trade-offs alongside the team. About this role: Own the ESW and FPGA roadmap and technical direction across Loft’s satellite platformsDefine HW-abstraction architecture and interfaces across FPGA, embedded software, onboard software, and operational layersDrive hardware-agnostic and reusable platform capabilities where they improve team independence and allow HW and technology to evolveEnable the ESW and FPGA leads through clear direction, decision context, coaching, and removal of organizational or technical blockersSet expectations for architecture, design reviews, code quality, testing, verification, documentation, and operational readinessBuild the core engineering foundation for Linux, Yocto/OpenEmbedded, CI/CD, reproducible builds, and secure or sovereign environmentsGuide technology choices involving hypervisors, RISC-V, Rust, and other platform technologies when they create durable valueAct as the face of ESW and FPGA and the triage point for company-wide technical issues, dependencies, and trade-offsManage and develop geographically distributed leads and teams, including hiring, mentorship, performance management, and team healthRepresent the organization with customers, partners, and government or defense stakeholders when formal assurance and documentation are required Must Haves: 10+ years of experience in embedded systems, FPGA, firmware, or closely related engineering, including delivery of mission-critical hardware or softwareProven experience leading and managing technical teams, including geographically distributed teamsDeep experience with FPGA design, embedded C/C++, real-time systems, and HW/SW integrationExperience designing HW abstractions and hardware-agnostic interfaces from both technical and architectural perspectivesStrong Linux kernel and embedded Linux experience, including low-level integration, drivers, boot, or system debuggingStrong Yocto/OpenEmbedded and CI/CD experience, including build infrastructure, automated testing, and reproducible releasesExperience building secure and sovereign environments, including trust boundaries, secure boot, signing, controlled dependencies, or related security architectureExperience with hypervisors, RISC-V, ARM and Rust development environmentsTrack record of making sound trade-offs across reliability, performance, security, schedule, and technology evolutionCollaborative, solution-minded leadership with the ability to enable leads, manage people with empathy and accountability, and act as a trusted cross-company technical representative Nice to Haves: Experience with spacecraft avionics, command and data handling (C&DH), payload interfaces, or satellite flight systemsExperience in New Space or satellite manufacturing, particularly standardized, modular, or repeatable satellite platformsExperience with radiation-tolerant or radiation-hardened design and an understanding of the space environmentExperience with real-time operating systems such as RTEMS, FreeRTOS, or VxWorksExperience with high-speed interfaces such as Ethernet, SpaceWire, SpaceFibre, CAN, PCIe, USB, or MIL-STD-1553Experience with ARM-based embedded systems, U-Boot, ARM Trusted Firmware, device-tree overlays, or secure boot implementationExperience contributing to upstream Linux or maintaining kernel modules, platform drivers, or low-level middlewareExperience with hypervisor isolation, virtualized I/O, partitioning, or mixed-criticality system designExperience using RISC-V or Rust in production, platform, tooling, or security-sensitive environmentsExposure to onboard AI/ML compute or edge-processing hardwareExperience supporting government or defense programs with formal assurance, security, sovereignty, and documentation requirements Some of Our Awesome Benefits: 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance option for employees and dependentsFlexible Spending (FSA) and Health Savings (HSA) Accounts offered with an employer contribution to the HSA100% employer paid Life, AD&D, Short-Term, and Long-Term Disability insuranceFlexible Time Off policy for vacation and sick leave, and 12 paid holidays401(k) plan and equity optionsDaily catered lunches and snacksInternational exposure to our team in FranceFully paid parental leave; 14 weeks for primary caregiver and 10 weeks for secondary caregiverCarrot Fertility provides comprehensive, inclusive fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits with financial supportOff-sites and many social events and celebrationsRelocation assistance when applicableResearch shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other underrepresented people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications. At Loft, we value respectful debate and people who aren’t afraid to challenge assumptions. We strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don’t check all the boxes Who We Are Loft: Space Made Simple. Founded in 2017, Loft provides governments, companies, and research institutions with a fast, reliable, and simple way to deploy missions in orbit. We integrate, launch, and operate spacecraft, offering end-to-end missions as a service across Earth observation, IoT connectivity, on-orbit AI, national security missions, and more. Leveraging our existing space infrastructure and an extensive inventory of satellite buses, Loft is reducing years-long integration and launch timelines to months. With more than 30 missions flown, Loft’s flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives. With a growing fleet on track to reach 30 satellites by 2027, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France to meet accelerating demand for space infrastructure. As an international company your resume will be reviewed by people across our offices so please attach a copy in English. We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us. State law requires us to tell you the base compensation range for this role, which is $195,000- $275,000 per year. This is determined by your education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities. The salary range for this role is intentionally wide as we evaluate individuals based on their unique experience and abilities to fit our needs. Most importantly, we are excited to meet you, and see if you are a great fit for our team. What we can’t quantify for you are the exciting challenges, supportive team, and amazing culture we enjoy.