Embedded Software

Embedded work sits closer to the hardware than most software hiring managers are used to recruiting for. The people who do it well are comfortable with constrained memory, real-time deadlines, and debugging problems that only appear on target — and those habits don't transfer neatly from application development, however strong the C++ looks on paper.

Most of the briefs we work involve safety-critical or regulated environments: DO-178C in avionics, ISO 26262 in automotive, IEC 62304 in medical devices. That changes what "senior" means. An engineer who has taken a product through certification carries evidence that doesn't show up in a keyword search, and firms screening on language experience alone tend to miss them.

The market is also smaller than the job titles suggest. A lot of people describe themselves as embedded engineers on the strength of some Linux and a bit of C. Fewer have written a driver, brought up a board, or worked to a hard real-time deadline. We look for the project evidence rather than the self-description, which is slower and produces shorter shortlists — but the shortlists convert.