Systems Software Engineer

** This role can sit in our North County San Diego office or our Orange County office. We are only reviewing local or CA based applicants **

We’re seeking a highly motivated systems software engineer to join ModRetro. You’ll get to work on software for our product hardware (MCUs, FPGAs), from the desktop solutions all the way up to the cloud. Developing software for our ever-increasing list of quality-made consumer electronics is your jam. If you want to own your solutions from beginning to end, you will thrive here. Your duty is to develop products that stand the test of time and establish your legacy.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Develop software (apps, services, libraries, tools) that communicates with microcontrollers, FPGAs, embedded devices, test equipment; Design the backend services, and customer-facing applications yourself!
• Troubleshoot issues that span software and hardware boundaries (real full stack)
• Partner closely with software, firmware, FPGA, electrical, QA, manufacturing, and product engineers to develop and validate multidisciplinary solutions
• Independently balance and prioritize work to meet deadlines and ensure success
• Setup and extend CI and automation

WHAT SETS YOU APART

• You take ownership of your work. When something is unclear or broken, you take the initiative to understand and fix it yourself.
• You are a creative thinker with high proficiency in technical problem solving
• You want to work in a small, focused organization that modernizes nostalgia
• While you may not design firmware or hardware yourself, you DO want to understand it to improve your own software
• You are equally interested in building the infrastructure that supports our hardware and the customer-facing experiences that bring it to life
• You know reliable software development practices but can apply them pragmatically in a fast-moving environment

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• BS or MS in CS/CE/EE or equivalent industry experience
• 3+ years of professionally developing, testing, and maintaining production software
• Experience with systems and scripting languages (C++, Rust, Python, TS, Bash, …)
• Experience developing applications for a variety of platforms and domains
• Hands-on experience with automation, CI/CD, and software release workflows
• Experience working with APIs, binary/structured data formats, and serialization

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience with nascent product development, test, and maintenance for the consumer electronics industry.
• You've tinkered with hardware before (even small hobby projects).
• Experience with device communication interfaces or protocols such as USB, UART, SPI, I²C, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Ethernet.