Staff Platform Engineer (Robotics)

TL;DR

Staff Platform Engineer (Robotics/Embedded): Designing and leading the technical architecture of the software foundation for autonomous ground vehicle fleets with an accent on real-time middleware, OS images, and device drivers. Focus on scaling the platform, ensuring functional safety (ISO 26262), and optimizing cross-stack performance for multi-sensor data flows.

Location: Remote; hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Berlin, Dublin, Frankfurt, Italy, Munich, Paris, Poland, Stockholm, and UK

Company

hirify.global is a Series A company transforming ground handling with autonomous vehicles for airlines and ground service providers.

What you will do

• Define the technical vision and multi-year roadmap for the autonomous vehicle platform and its scaling strategy.
• Own the architecture of Ubuntu/Yocto/Linux distributions tailored for real-time, safety-critical autonomous vehicle workloads.
• Set the strategy for ROS 2 IPC middleware (Cyclone DDS, Fast DDS, Zenoh) including QoS standards and determinism.
• Lead the development of user-space drivers for LiDARs, cameras, radars, GNSS/INS, CAN, and other vehicle interfaces.
• Own the end-to-end functional safety and security strategy, including secure boot, OTA updates, and alignment with ISO 26262 / SOTIF.
• Collaborate with autonomy, perception, and controls leads to establish cross-stack performance budgets (CPU, GPU, memory, latency).

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience developing Linux-based embedded or robotics platforms.
• Proven track record of building a robotics/AV platform from 0 to 1 and scaling fleet size.
• Expert-level C++ (≥C++17) and strong Python proficiency.
• Deep experience shipping real-time, safety-critical systems in domains like Avionics or AV/ADAS.
• Expertise in real-time performance tuning (perf, eBPF, ftrace/LTTng) and IPC middlewares on Linux/POSIX.
• Fluency with sensor-heavy vehicle protocols: USB, Ethernet/TSN, CAN, PCIe, SPI, I2C.

Nice to have

• Prior work on drones or other safety-critical robotic systems.
• Experience with QNX or other RTOS and GPU acceleration frameworks (CUDA, Vulkan).
• Deep knowledge of Linux/Yocto system configuration and PREEMPT_RT real-time patches.
• Open-source contributions to the Linux kernel, ROS 2, DDS implementations, or Yocto layers.

Culture & Benefits

• Fast-paced startup environment with the opportunity to drive the technical direction of a scaling company.
• Work on cutting-edge autonomy technology deployed in real-world industrial airport settings.
• Direct impact on engineering standards, mentoring senior engineers, and establishing technical rubrics.