Senior Firmware Engineer
Job Summary
Department: TEC Electrical & Battery
Experience Level: 69 Years
Location: Chennai India
Position Type: Full-Time / New Role
As a Senior Firmware Engineer you will spearhead the development and verification of safety-critical embedded code powering our in-house electronic systems for advanced aerial mobility. In this role you will lead core firmware development and verification entirely in-house. Your software will drive the closed-loop control monitoring and fault handling of our Battery Management Systems (BMS SW) Traction Battery Pack safety logic HV/LV DC-DC converters chargers and Battery Thermal Management System (BTMS) controllers ensuring all sub-systems communicate deterministically to support aircraft-level integration.
Core Sub-System Control: Design implement and validate production-grade firmware in Embedded C/C across our core power architectures:
BMS & Pack Safety: Core algorithmic firmware for state-of-charge (SoC) state-of-health (SoH) active/passive cell balancing fault detection and high-voltage contactor coordination.
HV/LV Converters: Real-time high-frequency digital control loops for voltage/current regulation power electronics modulation and protective switching thresholds.
BTMS Logic: Actuator control loops (PWM digital outputs) for pumps fans and active cooling/heating elements based on predictive thermal models.
Driver & Bootloader Authoring: Develop low-level bare-metal drivers for microcontrollers (ARM Cortex-M or safety-rated cores) peripheral chips (SPI I2C ADC) and custom secure bootloaders for field-upgradable firmware.
Advanced Troubleshooting & Hardware Debugging: Diagnose complex intermittent and timing-critical system issues during hardware bring-up and qualification using JTAG/SWD debuggers logic analyzers oscilloscopes and bus analyzers.
Aviation Verification & Tooling: Drive structural coverage analysis static analysis and dynamic code testing using static/dynamic verification suites such as LDRA Rapita Systems (RapiTest/RapiCover) or equivalent aerospace-grade verification tools.
Deterministic Communication: Implement communication protocol stacks (CAN CAN-FD) to interface seamlessly with the aircraft-level flight control computer ensuring predictable timing low jitter and bounded latency.
In-House Code Ownership: Establish rigorous coding standards (MISRA C/C) architectural design patterns software-in-the-loop (SIL) testing frameworks using Python and automated test environments to scale internal development capabilities.
With Flight Controls & Systems Integration: Define communication data dictionaries telemetry bandwidth limits network diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) and vehicle-level fail-safe handling modes to ensure the battery powertrain responds correctly to autopilot or pilot commands.
With Hardware Design Engineers: Partner during hardware bring-up and verification loops to isolate hardware vs. software issues validate low-level registry settings tune sensor calibration curves and debug board-level signal integrity/timing constraints.
With Battery Systems & Thermal System Engineers: Translate physical electrochemical safety thresholds charging curves and cooling fluid flow requirements into algorithmic state machines and deterministic control code.
With V&V Testing Teams: Provide testable software builds equipped with diagnostic hooks supporting the execution of automated Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing safety fault injection testing and aerospace compliance validation pipelines.
Experience: 6 to 9 years of hands-on embedded software development and verification experience specifically with high-reliability real-time control loops in aviation/aerospace electronics or high-voltage electrical power products (e.g. BMS power converters flight controls or smart grid power distribution).
Language & Tool Mastery: Expert-level mastery of Embedded C/C Python scripting for automated testing/data parsing and modern bare-metal microcontroller architectures (ARM Cortex-M or safety-rated dual-core MCUs).
Firmware Verification Tools: Hands-on experience authoring test suites executing static analysis and measuring code coverage (statement/branch/MC/DC) using tools such as LDRA Tool Suite Rapita Systems VectorCAST or Parasoft.
Troubleshooting & Debugging Excellence: Exceptional skills in isolating complex firmware defects using JTAG/SWD trace analyzers logic analyzers oscilloscopes and CAN bus analyzers under live power conditions.
Safety Frameworks & Quality: Proven track record writing production code adhering to MISRA C/C rules and robust exception/fault-handling architectures.
Consultant Transition Leadership: Ability to dissect existing codebases abstract requirements from external partners write clean & maintainable code and take absolute internal code ownership.
Direct exposure to aerospace software compliance standards such as RTCA DO-178C / EUROCAE ED-12C (Design Assurance Level DAL B or C).
Experience with worst-case execution time (WCET) analysis and timing verification tools (e.g. RapiTime or AbsInt aiT).
Formal software testing or quality certifications (e.g. ISTQB Foundation/Advanced INCOSE).