Founding Embedded Systems Engineer

Founding Embedded Systems Engineer

Company Description: QAIL AI focuses on building autonomously operated AI systems that function reliably in real-world environments. The team is engaged in deep applied research, training advanced algorithms on real-time data streams. QAIL AI aims to bridge cutting-edge artificial intelligence with practical deployment across physical systems and devices.

We’re building autonomous systems for real-world, mission-critical environments and are looking for a Founding Embedded Systems Engineer to own the embedded architecture from the ground up.

This is an early, hands-on role. You’ll work across microcontrollers, embedded Linux, robotics middleware, communication protocols, hardware interfaces, and autonomy systems — taking systems from prototype to reliable field deployment.

What you'll own

• Design and build firmware for STM32 and ESP32-based systems
• Architect real-time communication between MCUs, Linux companion computers, flight controllers, radios, sensors, and other peripherals
• Integrate and extend MAVLink, CRSF and related communication protocols
• Build reliable interfaces over UART, SPI, I²C, CAN, USB and GPIO
• Develop real-time systems using FreeRTOS, Zephyr or similar RTOS
• Develop and integrate software on Embedded Linux and ROS 2 Jazzy
• Build and integrate ROS 2 nodes, interfaces, and communication between embedded hardware and higher-level autonomy software
• Integrate with flight-control/autopilot ecosystems such as PX4 and ArduPilot
• Debug problems across the entire hardware/software stack using JTAG/SWD, oscilloscopes and logic analyzers
• Work closely with electrical, mechanical and autonomy engineers
• Make foundational architecture decisions that will shape the product as we scale
• Take prototypes into real-world testing and iterate quickly based on what breaks

What we're looking for

You have strong experience building embedded systems that interact with the physical world.

Core experience:

• Strong C/C++
• Deep experience with STM32 or comparable ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers
• Production experience with embedded firmware
• FreeRTOS, Zephyr or another RTOS
• Embedded Linux
• ROS 2 (ideally Jazzy) and experience building/integrating ROS 2 nodes
• Strong understanding of interrupts, timers, DMA, memory management and real-time constraints
• UART, SPI, I²C and CAN
• Hardware debugging with JTAG/SWD, oscilloscopes and logic analyzers
• Ability to read schematics and debug hardware/software integration problems

Highly valuable experience:

• MAVLink
• PX4 or ArduPilot
• CRSF / TBS Crossfire
• ExpressLRS (ELRS)
• DroneCAN / UAVCAN
• DDS / ROS 2 communications
• Flight controllers
• UAVs, robotics or autonomous systems
• ESP32
• Linux device drivers and low-level networking

You don't need experience with every protocol on this list. We're much more interested in someone with deep embedded fundamentals who can quickly understand an unfamiliar system.

You might be a particularly strong fit if

You've previously built a flight controller, autopilot, robotics platform, UAV subsystem, RC system, embedded communications system, or other real-time hardware product.

You've dealt with bugs where the answer wasn't obvious whether the problem was firmware, Linux, electronics, timing, communications, ROS 2, or the physical hardware — and knew how to systematically figure it out.

This is a founding role

We're looking for someone who wants substantially more ownership than a typical engineering position.

You'll help determine what we build, how the system is architected, whom we hire next, and how the engineering organization develops.

That means we're looking for someone comfortable with ambiguity, rapid prototyping, field testing, and making consequential technical decisions with incomplete information.

• The right person is not just an excellent firmware programmer. They're a systems engineer who can make the whole machine work.