{"id":3570843,"url":"https://alion.io/job/aalo-atomics-software-engineer-industrial-controls","title":"Software Engineer, Industrial Controls","company":{"id":668768,"name":"Aalo Atomics","domain":"aalo.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/aalo","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Rippling","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":94,"open_postings":40,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.05,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":84,"computed_at":"2026-11-02T06:13:15Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"staff","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"explicit","locations":["Austin, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":155000,"max_usd":290000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":1500},"experience_years_min":10,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"EtherCAT","optional":false},{"name":"Linux","optional":false},{"name":"MQTT","optional":false},{"name":"RTOS","optional":false},{"name":"Rust","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-15T17:49:02Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-15","last_verified_at":"2026-11-02T06:54:16Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":17,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":17},"description":"About Aalo Atomics\nAalo Atomics is pioneering a new era in clean energy with factory-fabricated microreactors designed to deliver affordable, scalable, and reliable nuclear power. Our mission is to make nuclear energy globally accessible, starting with the Aalo-1, a 10 MWe reactor leveraging cutting-edge safety, modularity, and efficiency. Based in Austin, TX, we’re rapidly growing as we work to deploy the world’s first fleet of advanced microreactors. Join us and help revolutionize energy for a sustainable future.\nThe Role\nWe're hiring a Software Engineer, Industrial Controls to lead the architecture and implementation of Aalo's software-defined industrial controls runtime for energy and industrial process systems.\nThis role focuses on building a deterministic, highly available runtime capable of executing industrial process-control workloads. The platform is intended to bring modern software flexibility to domains traditionally served by PLCs, while preserving the predictability, recoverability, and operational discipline required for physical systems.\nThis is a hands-on role for an engineer who is equally comfortable with systems software, runtime design, operating-system-adjacent engineering, industrial communications, and high-reliability architecture.\nYou will own the stack from I/O drivers through runtime execution and external control and data interfaces. You will work closely with controls, systems, hardware, test, and software engineers to translate process-control needs into runtime architecture and software behavior.\nThis is a systems software and industrial controls role with strong architecture, implementation, redundancy, diagnostics, testability, and technical leadership responsibilities.\nExamples of the systems and capabilities this role may touch include:\nReal-time or real-time-oriented control execution runtimes\nDeterministic scheduling, timing behavior, state handling, and fault containment\nIndustrial I/O connectivity layers and custom drivers for PLC I/O modules\nIndustrial protocols such as Ethernet/IP, Modbus, EtherCAT, and MQTT\nHot/standby redundancy, bumpless failover, watchdogs, heartbeats, and health monitoring\nMirrored or replicated runtime state to support continuity of execution across redundant hardware\nMemory management strategies designed for deterministic behavior, bounded risk, and long-term stability\nNorthbound runtime interfaces for outbound telemetry and inbound control\nRuntime configuration for I/O mapping, deployment behavior, failover behavior, and diagnostics exposure\nSimulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, fault injection, control-system validation, and operational observability\nCommon technology categories and engineering patterns in the stack include:\nSystems programming in compiled languages such as C, C++, or Rust\nReal-time or real-time-oriented software architecture\nRuntime systems, schedulers, state machines, concurrency, and memory behavior\nIndustrial automation, fieldbus, and hardware interface layers\nEmbedded Linux, RTOS, or operating-system-adjacent environments\nHigh-availability systems, redundancy models, and fault-tolerant architecture\nDiagnostics, observability, logging, tracing, and runtime introspection\nAutomated test harnesses, simulation environments, and hardware-in-the-loop validation\nDeployment tooling, configuration management, and controlled release processes\nSecure interfaces between control runtimes, telemetry systems, operator interfaces, and enterprise software\nWhat You'll Do\nArchitect and implement a robust industrial controls runtime designed to run on standard PC hardware in a real-time or real-time-oriented environment\nDefine the execution model for deterministic control software, including scheduling, timing behavior, state handling, and fault containment\nDesign and build industrial I/O connectivity layers and custom drivers for PLC I/O modules and industrial protocols\nLead the design of high-availability architectures, including hot/standby redundancy with bumpless failover\nDevelop approaches for mirrored or replicated runtime state to support continuity of execution across redundant hardware\nEstablish memory management strategies that prioritize deterministic behavior, bounded risk, long-term stability, and operational robustness\nDefine runtime interfaces for outbound telemetry, inbound control, diagnostics, configuration, and operator-facing systems without forcing unnecessary coupling\nPartner closely with controls engineers to translate process-control requirements into runtime architecture and software behavior\nDefine system configuration approaches, including I/O mapping, deployment configuration, failover behavior, and diagnostics exposure\nBuild early proof-of-concept systems rapidly and iteratively, including a working runtime prototype with a minimum viable set of I/O drivers\nEstablish engineering standards for testability, observability, fault detection, debugging, and software quality\nWhat We're Looking For\nStrong engineering fundamentals\nYou can design systems with clear execution models, interfaces, service boundaries, failure modes, and test strategies\nYou write clear, maintainable systems software and can reason carefully about correctness, reliability, timing behavior, and operational risk\nYou understand the difference between a useful prototype and a runtime that physical systems can rely on\nYou know how to keep low-level software simple without creating fragile architecture or hidden coupling\nIndustrial controls and runtime systems mindset\nYou have deep experience in systems software, runtime systems, embedded software, operating-system-adjacent engineering, or industrial automation\nYou understand deterministic execution, concurrency, scheduling, memory behavior, and fault handling in high-reliability systems\nYou have designed or implemented software that interfaces with hardware, field devices, industrial protocols, or control systems\nYou are motivated by software that changes how physical systems operate, not just software that looks good in a demo\nYou care about uptime, recoverability, predictable behavior, diagnostics, testability, and operational clarity\nHigh output and follow-through\nYou are comfortable taking ambiguous architecture needs and turning them into working systems\nYou can move quickly on prototypes while preserving the judgment needed for high-reliability software\nYou handle integration issues, edge cases, testing gaps, and operational problems without losing momentum\nYou can lead technically while remaining deeply hands-on\nModern software and AI-native working style\nYou are comfortable using modern software tools, automation, and AI-assisted development workflows where they improve leverage\nYou can evaluate generated code, test output, and tool suggestions rather than relying on them blindly\nYou think in terms of leverage, fast feedback loops, evaluation, and compounding improvements in engineering quality\nYou preserve human engineering judgment, verification, and accountability in systems where correctness matters\nTeam-first mindset\nYou collaborate closely with controls, systems, hardware, test, manufacturing, operations, and software teams\nYou communicate clearly across low-level software, control-system behavior, hardware constraints, and operational needs\nYou are comfortable mentoring engineers and helping establish engineering standards as the platform matures\nYou optimize for company outcomes, integrated systems, and long-term maintainability rather than narrow ownership boundaries\nInterest in where this is going\nYou are excited by the idea that industrial controls can move toward more flexible, software-defined runtime platforms\nYou want to help build software that matters in the physical world, where robustness and determinism are essential\nYou are comfortable working in a role that will evolve as the runtime, team, hardware, and control-system architecture mature\nNice to Have\nExperience in industrial automation, embedded systems, kernel or runtime systems, power systems, robotics, aerospace or flight software, automotive controls, nuclear-adjacent controls, or other high-reliability physical-world domains\nExperience building real-time or real-time-oriented software platforms\nFamiliarity with PLC-based systems, industrial controllers, or control-runtime replacement architectures\nExperience with redundancy models such as hot/standby failover, state replication, watchdog and heartbeat systems, and health monitoring\nExperience with field protocols including Ethernet/IP, Modbus, EtherCAT, or MQTT\nExperience bringing up software on RTOS or embedded Linux-like environments\nExperience with simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, fault injection, or control-system validation\nExperience building early-stage technical teams and mentoring engineers\nRequirements\n10+ years of professional software engineering experience, including deep ownership of systems software, embedded software, runtime systems, industrial automation, control systems, real-time systems, high-availability infrastructure, or similarly high-reliability software\n5+ years of experience designing, implementing, or operating software where timing behavior, fault handling, hardware interfaces, redundancy, recoverability, or deterministic behavior materially mattered\nBachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, software engineering, controls engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience\nBased in the United States.\nWilling to work on-site in Austin, TX\nWilling to travel as needed for team collaboration, integration, testing, and installation support.\nWhy This Role\nMost industrial controls software still assumes a world of specialized controller hardware, isolated tools, and narrow integration paths. Aalo is building energy systems that need the discipline of industrial controls and the flexibility of modern software architecture.\nIn this role, you will define the architecture for a new control-runtime platform rather than maintain an existing one. The near-term work includes practical systems like runtime execution, I/O drivers, deterministic scheduling, redundancy, diagnostics, and prototype validation. The long-term work is larger: building the software foundation that lets Aalo control, observe, test, and evolve industrial energy systems with greater speed and rigor.\nIf successful, this role creates a platform that sits between industrial automation, systems software, and high-availability runtime design. It gives Aalo a stronger foundation for non-safety-related controls, integration, simulation, testing, telemetry, and future plant operations.\nYou will be helping build that platform from the inside.\nRequirements:\nBased in the United States\nWilling to work on-site in Austin, TX\nWhat We Offer:\nCompetitive salary based on technical level \nHealth, Dental, Vision Insurance\nPaid Time Off\nCorporate Gym Membership\nAdditional Information:\nAalo Atomics provides a collaborative and supportive work environment, opportunities for professional growth, intellectually challenging careers, and competitive compensation. Aalo Atomics is an equal opportunity employer and considers all employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.\nApplicants must be U.S. Citizens or U.S. Persons in compliance with 10 CFR Part 810 and may not hold non-compliant foreign citizenships.\nDirect applicants only. 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