Lead Platform Software (Embedded Linux)

Location: Torrance, California, United States

Salary: $198,000–$277,000 USD annually base salary, plus potential equity grants.

Company

hirify.global is a defense technology company designing and manufacturing high-performance unmanned systems and rebuilding the drone industrial base.

What you will do

• Lead and grow the Platform Software engineering team through hiring, mentorship, and performance management.
• Own the roadmap and delivery of the embedded platform, including Linux distributions, BSPs, kernels, bootloaders, runtimes, libraries, cross-compilation toolchains, and SDKs.
• Run the platform as a product with stable, versioned interfaces for flight, ground-station, and autonomy software teams.
• Make architecture decisions covering build versus adoption, interface design, and resource allocation across embedded subsystems.
• Set engineering quality practices for foundational software, including code review, testing, and CI/CD.
• Stay hands-on by reviewing platform code and owning technical architecture.

Requirements

• Experience leading a software team as a hands-on manager with responsibility for people management and technical direction.
• Deep embedded-platform experience with custom Linux, Yocto or Buildroot, kernels, BSPs, bootloaders, and runtime or SDK layers.
• Experience running a platform or foundational-software team as a product, including stable interfaces, versioning, and dependent consumer teams.
• Strong judgment in build-versus-adopt decisions, interface design, and embedded-system resource trade-offs.
• Ability to work with senior leadership, manage expectations, and remove execution blockers.
• Technical credibility to review BSP, kernel, and runtime code and make architecture decisions.

Nice to have

• Experience building an embedded platform team from a small nucleus.
• MCU or RTOS platform experience alongside embedded Linux.
• Bazel or comparable build-system leadership across cross-compiled targets.
• Experience with real-time, safety-relevant, or mission-critical embedded platforms.
• Experience bringing new computer platforms from prototype to production.

Culture & Benefits

• Fast-paced, hands-on environment focused on moving systems from design to deployment.
• High ownership and close collaboration across engineering teams.
• Work on unmanned systems designed for demanding defense and battlefield applications.
• Base salary of $198,000–$277,000 annually, with highly competitive equity grants considered part of total compensation.
• Equal opportunity employment for applicants regardless of protected characteristics.