Senior Software Engineer Electronic Warfare

ABOUT THE TEAM

STARK’s Electronic Warfare team is a systems-focused engineering group delivering software-defined, mass-scalable RF solutions for autonomous systems. Combining deep domain expertise in hardware board design, thermal/structural packaging, real-time C++ signal processing, and resilient directional mesh networking, we rapidly build and field advanced EW capabilities designed to survive and operate in contested spectrum environments.

YOUR MISSION

At STARK, we are building the next generation of autonomous platforms capable of navigating the world’s most contested environments. We are currently hiring for multiple Software Engineering positions where the primary mission is to ensure our fleet maintains command, control, and situational awareness against near-peer threats.

Electronic Warfare (EW) is at the heart of everything we do. We’re looking for engineers who are passionate about the electromagnetic spectrum and eager to join a team that lives and breathes RF. Whether you specialise in signal processing, communications, or EW effects, your background in EW and high-performance C++ is what matters most. We prioritise deep expertise and a drive to solve complex problems over meeting every single sub-specialty requirement.

WHAT YOU WILL DO AT STARK

• Define, evolve, and maintain the overarching software architecture for embedded applications, ensuring high throughput, deterministic latency, and modular decoupling.
• Design robust abstractions, clean APIs, and clear interface boundaries between algorithms, system-level networking, and hardware drivers to keep the codebase maintainable as the team and system complexity grow.
• Identify architectural debt, streamline convoluted data flows, and steer ongoing refactoring efforts to keep fast-moving prototype code production-ready, testable, and robust.
• Design and implement core modules in modern C++ (C++20/23), emphasizing clean concurrency models, efficient memory usage, and zero-overhead abstractions.
• Champion modular software patterns, comprehensive testing harnesses (unit, integration, and Hardware-in-the-Loop simulation), reproducible build systems, and CI/CD quality gates across the development lifecycle.
• Partner closely with algorithmic developers, RF engineers, and hardware specialists, translating domain algorithms and prototype pipelines into clean, cohesive production software.

WHAT YOU BRING TO THE MISSION

• Proven track record designing, structuring, and maintaining medium-to-large C++ codebases, with a deep understanding of software design patterns, component modularity, interface design, and clean architecture principles.
• Extensive professional experience with Modern C++ (C++17/20/23), including template metaprogramming, modern concurrency, memory-efficient data structures, and profiling/debugging tools (gdb, valgrind, perf).
• In-depth knowledge of Linux system architecture, multi-threading, inter-process communication (IPC), asynchronous I/O, POSIX APIs, and edge networking.
• Hands-on experience structuring automated testing suites (mocks, stubs, contract testing, HIL pipelines) and CI/CD integration for real-time or embedded software.
• Ability to collaborate constructively with rapid prototyping teams, offering pragmatic architectural guidance that empowers developers to move quickly while safeguarding system integrity.

NICE TO HAVE

• Experience with Software-Defined Radio (SDR) platforms, GNU Radio, RF streaming pipelines, or high-throughput DSP workflows.
• Familiarity with high-speed serialisation frameworks (e.g., Protobuf, FlatBuffers, ZeroMQ, gRPC) and distributed systems messaging.
• Understanding of embedded Linux development, kernel drivers, Yocto/Buildroot, or cross-compilation toolchains.
• Background in real-time operating systems (RTOS) or safety-critical software engineering standards.