Software Engineer, Linux Kernel / Android

Work Authorization Requirement

• Due to the nature of our business and compliance with federal regulations, all candidates must be a "U.S. Person".
• Upon hire, you will be required to provide documentation verifying your status as a U.S. Citizen, a lawful permanent resident, or a protected individual under 8 U.S.C.
• 1324b(a)(3).

Summary

As a Software Engineer, Linux Kernel / Android, you'll work at the intersection of software and hardware to build and maintain the low-level platform stack that powers Rivet's body-worn and field-deployed devices - including our AR/XR soldier systems, which combine real-time sensor fusion (cameras, IMUs, depth sensors) with a display and compute pipeline running on Android and embedded Linux. You'll focus on the kernel, BSP, AOSP, HALs, drivers, and board bring-up that make that pipeline reliable, secure, and power-efficient enough to run all day on a warfighter's body.

You'll work closely with hardware, electrical, and sensor-fusion/AR software engineers to integrate new hardware, debug issues across the full system stack, and deliver platform software that holds up under the SWaP, thermal, and ruggedization constraints of field-deployed defense hardware. This is a hands-on individual contributor role with ownership over meaningful pieces of the platform.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain system-level software across Android and Linux, with a focus on the kernel, BSP, AOSP, HALs, and device drivers.
• Customize and integrate AOSP for custom hardware platforms, including framework, system-level, and camera/display HAL components that feed our sensor-fusion and AR pipeline.
• Bring up new hardware and peripherals, working closely with electrical and hardware engineers to debug issues across the hardware/software boundary.
• Configure, build, and maintain Linux kernels and Android system images for power- and thermally-constrained, body-worn embedded devices.
• Develop and maintain board support packages, device configurations, kernel modules, and low-level system components.
• Debug complex issues involving hardware, kernel, drivers, boot processes, power management, memory, and system performance - with power and thermal efficiency treated as first-class constraints given our SWaP requirements.
• Integrate and maintain device drivers and hardware interfaces for custom peripherals, including sensor and edge-compute (NPU/DSP) interfaces used in on-device inference.
• Own secure and reliable platform architecture, including secure boot, system integrity, permissions, and other low-level security mechanisms appropriate for defense-grade hardware.
• Build automated tests and debugging tools for system-level software and hardware integration, including hardware-in-the-loop validation.
• Work with software, electrical, mechanical, and systems engineers to identify and resolve platform issues.
• Participate in code reviews, technical design discussions, and platform bring-up activities.
• Produce pragmatic, reliable, and well-documented software that can be deployed and ruggedized across multiple hardware configurations.

Requirements

• 3+ years of experience developing system-level software for Android and/or Linux-based devices.
• Strong experience with Linux kernel development, configuration, debugging, or integration.
• Experience working with Android/AOSP, including platform customization, HALs, system services, device configuration, or framework components.
• Experience developing or integrating device drivers and interfacing with custom hardware and peripherals.
• Experience with board bring-up and debugging issues across the hardware/software boundary.
• Strong C/C++ programming skills and familiarity with low-level debugging and development tools.
• Understanding of Linux boot processes, device trees, kernel configuration, memory management, and system initialization.
• Experience building Android/Linux system images and working with embedded build systems.
• Familiarity with common hardware interfaces and protocols such as USB, MIPI, I2C, UART, GPIO, and PCIe.
• Ability to diagnose complex system-level issues using logs, traces, debuggers, and hardware instrumentation.
• Familiarity with embedded software testing and hardware-in-the-loop or system integration testing.
• Working knowledge of secure boot, system integrity, and other platform security mechanisms - required given the defense-grade nature of our hardware.
• Comfortable working in a highly collaborative environment with engineers across software, electrical, mechanical, and systems disciplines.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance, if required for the role.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with ARM-based SoCs and embedded computing platforms.
• Experience with bootloaders such as U-Boot or Android Bootloader.
• Experience with Yocto, Buildroot, Bazel, Soong, or other embedded/system build environments.
• Familiarity with OTA updates, secure boot chains, TPMs, verified boot, or platform hardening.
• Experience developing software for resource-constrained, body-worn, or wearable devices with power, thermal, memory, or compute limitations.
• Experience working on safety-critical, high-assurance, defense, aerospace, or other demanding embedded systems.
• Experience with camera, display, or sensor pipelines feeding AR/XR or spatial-computing applications.
• Active security clearance.

Pay and benefits

Compensation may vary within the posted range based on relevant experience, skills, education, and other job-related factors. In addition to base salary, this role may be eligible for equity and other forms of compensation. Eligible employees also receive a competitive benefits package, including unlimited PTO.