Senior Systems Software Engineer

Location: Austin, TX (Hybrid on-site, with travel)
Travel: ~20% typical; up to ~50% during field exercises and partner/military deployments
Clearance: U.S. Citizen with the ability to obtain a security clearance

About NODA

NODA is a veteran-owned, venture-backed technology company transforming how unmanned systems collaborate in complex, mission-critical environments. As NODA scales across products, partners, and deployment environments, keeping the system coherent in practice — not just on paper — is what separates a platform that works in the field from one that only works in a demo.

Our Systems Software Engineers are the people who can stand at the seam between subsystems — software, networking, RF, and hardware — and make sense of what's actually happening when something breaks in degraded, contested, or denied conditions. You won't be the deepest RF, networking, or hardware specialist in the room, but you'll be able to hold your own in that conversation, pinpoint where in the stack a problem actually lives, and write the software — or pick up a multimeter — needed to prove it.

The Role

As a Systems Software Engineer, you will work across NODA's cross-system infrastructure — the messaging fabric, gateway, and runtime built on real-time messaging frameworks (DDS, ROS/ROS2, and similar) that coordinate fleets of heterogeneous unmanned systems in real time — debugging and resolving issues that don't respect team boundaries. You'll pinpoint performance and integration issues end to end, write software stacks under a systems architect's supervision where the work falls outside Core Engineering's product ownership, and work directly with networking, RF, and hardware subject matter experts when an issue requires investigation below the software layer. You'll also support the System Health function — characterizing performance baselines, analyzing crashes to root cause, and producing the verification evidence the organization relies on for release decisions.

Key Responsibilities

• Debug and resolve cross-system issues spanning software, real-time messaging, networking, RF, and hardware — owning the investigation even when the root cause sits outside your primary depth

• Pinpoint performance and latency issues in cross-system infrastructure (messaging fabric, gateway, runtime) supporting multi-agent coordination, and drive them to resolution

• Write and maintain software stacks under a systems architect's supervision, for work outside Core Engineering sub-teams' product ownership

• Investigate and characterize system behavior under degraded, intermittent, or contested link conditions

• Perform hands-on hardware diagnostics using basic bench tools (multimeter, oscilloscope) to isolate issues at the hardware/software boundary

• Hold credible technical conversations with networking, RF, and hardware SMEs — translate their findings into system-level constraints and software fixes

• Contribute to System Health: performance baselining, system-level verification, crash analysis to root cause, and KPI/dashboard evidence used for release go/no-go decisions, with a focus on driving measurable improvements in latency, reliability, and uptime

• Identify and mitigate cross-system risks impacting mission effectiveness, including in live exercises or deployments

• Support integration tooling, CI/CD for cross-system components, and automated regression in SIL/HIL environments

• Maintain Interface Control Documents and integration contracts between major platform components, and translate field/operational requirements into system constraints Core Engineering and architects can build against

• Build observability into cross-system components (logging, tracing, metrics) to make the next debugging pass faster

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, including significant time debugging distributed, real-time, or multi-service systems in production

• Strong proficiency in C++ and/or Python, with the ability to write production-quality software with architect-level supervision on system design

• Experience with real-time or low-latency messaging/middleware (e.g., DDS, ROS/ROS2, ZeroMQ, MQTT, gRPC) in distributed or multi-agent contexts

• Solid working knowledge of networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, multicast, basic routing) sufficient to debug connectivity/performance issues and converse credibly with networking engineers

• Working familiarity — conversational depth plus basic debugging, not specialist design work — with RF/wireless concepts (link quality, interference, basic link budget reasoning)

• Comfortable using basic hardware bench tools (multimeter, oscilloscope) to debug at the hardware/software boundary

• Demonstrated ability to debug across layers — application, network, RF, and hardware-adjacent — and to know when to pull in a specialist versus solve it directly

• Experience with Linux systems and command-line debugging tooling

• U.S. Citizenship with the ability to obtain a security clearance

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience operating or debugging systems in contested/denied conditions (jamming, intermittent links, degraded bandwidth)

• Experience with Linux-based or real-time systems in resource-constrained, embedded, or edge environments (embedded Linux, bare-metal, RTOS)

• Familiarity with containerization for edge deployment (Docker/K8s) and observability tooling (OpenTelemetry, Jaeger, or similar)

• Experience with simulation, HIL/SIL pipelines, or sim-to-field validation workflows

• Familiarity with security considerations in tactical comms or cross-domain solutions

• Prior work in defense, aerospace, or other mission-critical/regulated environments

• Experience authoring ICDs, requirements traceability, or MBSE artifacts

• Exposure to tactical radios, MANET, or mesh networking in a support/integration capacity

Skills & Attributes

• Comfortable being the generalist in the room — credible across software, network, RF, and hardware conversations without needing to be the deepest expert in any one

• Strong ownership instinct; debugs to root cause rather than handing off at the first sign of unfamiliar territory

• Results-oriented — thinks in terms of measurable system KPIs (latency, reliability, uptime), not just task completion

• Clear written communicator — translates field/debugging findings into structured specs, crash reports, and feedback Core Engineering can act on

• Operates well under a systems architect's supervision on unfamiliar scope, without needing constant direction

Benefits & Perks

Our culture fosters collaboration, respect, and trust, empowering passionate people to do their best work. We offer a competitive salary, comprehensive benefits, and opportunities for career growth. In addition to an opportunity to take part in an innovative, collaborative and fast-growing business with a highly motivated and skilled team, we also take pride in taking care of our employees. Here are just a few ways that we show our appreciation:

• We offer comprehensive medical, dental, and visions plans

• 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan to invest in your long-term retirement goals + Company match

• Equity grants for new hires

• Unlimited PTO

• 11 Paid holidays

• Extremely generous company holiday calendar, including a holiday hiatus in November, & December.

• Generous Parental Leave

• Military Leave for annual training or service requirements

• FSA

• DCFSA

• HSA

• Professional Development Opportunities

• Access to One Medical

• Mental Health Resources: We provide free mental health resources 24/7 including therapy and more. Additional work-life services, such as free legal and financial support, are available to you as well.

Growth Path at NODA

• L5 — Systems Software Engineer: Owns individual debugging and integration tasks within cross-system infrastructure; writes software under architect supervision; builds working fluency in networking, RF, and hardware-level debugging.

• L6 — Senior Systems Software Engineer: Owns end-to-end resolution of cross-system performance, latency, and integration issues with minimal supervision; contributes independently to System Health baselining and crash analysis; represents Systems Engineering in cross-team design sessions.

• L7 — Staff Systems Software Engineer: Drives systems-level technical conduit work independently — translates field and customer requirements into system constraints, owns ICDs for assigned subsystems, and is a primary escalation point for integration risk, release-readiness, and mission assurance evidence.

Export Control Compliance

To conform to U.S. government export control regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or otherwise eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State or U.S. Department of Commerce.

Equal Opportunity Statement

NODA AI is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and respectful workplace and to maintaining equitable employment and hiring practices. We provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees and make all employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

As a federal contractor, NODA AI complies with all applicable equal employment opportunity and affirmative action requirements, including Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA), as amended. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants and employees with disabilities throughout the recruiting, hiring, and employment process.

Consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws, qualified applicants with criminal histories will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with applicable fair chance and ban-the-box laws, including the Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance where applicable. We actively encourage qualified individuals of all backgrounds, including women, minorities, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities, to apply.

NODA AI is committed to fostering an inclusive, supportive, and accessible work environment for all applicants and employees. If you require accommodations or assistance during the application process, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected] or contact your recruiter so we can provide the support you need.

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