Lead Software Developer

Technology Innovation Institute (TII) is a publicly funded research institute, based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is home to a diverse community of leading scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and researchers from across the globe, transforming problems and roadblocks into pioneering research and technology prototypes that help move society ahead.

Role Overview

We are seeking a Lead Software Developer to lead the development, integration, and delivery of embedded software solutions for autonomous systems. This is a hands-on technical leadership role that combines software architecture, development, system integration, mentoring, and cross-functional collaboration. The successful candidate will actively contribute to software implementation, debugging, and integration activities while guiding the engineering team to deliver secure, reliable, and high-quality products throughout the product lifecycle.

Industry / Domain

Autonomous UAV Systems / Embedded Security

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, integration, and validation of embedded flight software for autonomous and safety-critical systems.
• Lead the integration of platform security features and secure software deployment mechanisms.
• Lead software development, debugging, code reviews, and system integration activities.
• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and support to engineering teams throughout the development lifecycle.
• Drive platforms bring-up, software integration, validation, and release activities.
• Collaborate with hardware, systems, security, test, manufacturing, and DevOps teams.
• Support Git workflows, CI/CD pipelines, build automation, release management, and configuration control.
• Ensure software quality, reliability, maintainability, and compliance with engineering standards and processes.
• Comfortable making architecture decisions and representing the software team to stakeholders and customers

Experience

• 15+ years in embedded software; 8+ years in flight controller, autopilot, or safety-critical avionics.
• Proven track record leading embedded software teams and delivering products to production.

Technical And Leadership Skills

• Strong proficiency in C/C++ for real-time embedded systems and Python for tooling and test automation.
• Strong Autopilot stack expertise (e.g., PX4) and MAVLink/GCS integration (QGroundControl or similar).
• Experience with RTOS (e.g., NuttX) and embedded Operating system environments.: scheduling, POSIX, IPC, memory protection, drivers on ARM Cortex.
• Experience in Embedded security: ARM TrustZone, OP-TEE, trusted firmware, secure boot chains, eFUSE/OTP.
• Peripheral and build know-how: CAN-FD/SPI/I2C/UART
• Secure coding (MISRA C, SEI CERT), cryptography (TLS, AES/RSA/ECC), PKI/key management.
• Proficient with Git workflows (branching, pull requests, code reviews) and collaborative development.
• DevOps understanding: CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitLab CI, Jenkins, GitHub Actions), automated build/test, and release management for embedded firmware.
• Working knowledge of MATLAB or similar tools for test automation, data analysis, and validation workflows
• Excellent written and verbal communication; able to mentor engineers and lead cross-functional technical discussions.
• Comfortable making architecture decisions and representing the software team to stakeholders.

Education And Certification Requirements

• Bachelor’s in computer science, Electrical, or Aerospace Engineering (Master's/PhD preferred).
• Safety-critical software certifications (DO-178C, ISO 26262); MATLAB for test and validation workflows.

At TII, we help society to overcome its biggest hurdles through a rigorous approach to scientific discovery and inquiry, using state-of-the-art facilities and collaboration with leading international institutions. Our rigorous discovery and inquiry-based approach helps to forge new and disruptive breakthroughs in advanced materials, autonomous robotics, cryptography, digital security, directed energy, quantum computing and secure systems.