Senior Firmware Engineer
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 23, 2026. First seen by Alion on Jul 23, 2026.
FULL TIME, 5 DAYS ONSITE
LOCATION: CALMSDEN, CIRENCESTER
THE LAST FRONTIER
The Arctic is a place of extremes: unforgiving, untamed, and undergoing rapid change. A literal defrosting reveals a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity spanning energy, defence, logistics, research, and infrastructure.
ARD was founded on a paradox. The Arctic is both the next great economic frontier and one of the most hostile environments on Earth. Rich in resources and strategically vital, yet bone-chillingly cold, dark for months, and fundamentally inhospitable to humans. This paradox-an explosion of activity in a place that resists human presence-is why we exist. Our solution is autonomy.
We build systems that operate reliably and intelligently in the Arctic, so that humans don't always have to.
Founded by record-holding pioneers with decades of polar experience, we take calculated risks on hard problems that matter. If you want to build and deploy ground-up technology with real-world impact, at an inflection point in history that won’t reappear, we’d like to talk.
THE ROLE
We’re looking for a Firmware Engineer to join our small team developing high-reliability firmware for some of the most challenging environments on earth. Working on 32-bit Arm Cortex-M processors, you’ll own firmware architecture, development, testing and debugging across ARD’s products, from low-level drivers through to networking and application logic, and work closely with our hardware engineers from bring-up to field deployment. We want you to use your experience to make key technical decisions, challenge the team constructively, and balance delivery against long-term quality, so that our products are dependable enough for the Arctic.
* Please note: this role is not eligible for visa sponsorship *
CORE RESPONSIBILITIES
Design & Development - Design, develop and maintain firmware in C for Arm Cortex-M microcontrollers, writing efficient, reliable and well-documented code.
Hardware Integration - Work closely with the hardware team on board bring-up and on integrating sensors, communication interfaces (SPI, I2C, UART) and peripheral devices.
Testing & Debugging - Test and validate firmware at unit, integration and system level, diagnosing issues on real hardware with oscilloscopes, logic analysers and debug probes.
RTOS & Boot Systems - Develop RTOS-based and interrupt-driven firmware, along with bootloaders and OTA update mechanisms, to meet strict timing and reliability requirements.
Code Quality & Version Control - Maintain high code quality through peer review, coding standards and Git-based release management.
Team & Collaboration - Pick up, improve and extend existing designs as readily as building new ones, working alongside software, mechanical and QA colleagues on documentation, design reviews and compliance testing.
REQUIREMENTS
Essential
5+ years of embedded firmware development in C for Arm or equivalent processors.
Willingness to adopt and embrace an AI-accelerated development workflow.
Experience across the full software development life cycle: writing and gathering requirements, design documentation, design and code review, writing test plans and testing.
Experience with low-level comms interfaces (SPI, I2C, UART).
Experienced Git user.
Experience with RTOS and bare-metal design.
Understanding of bootloaders and OTA for updating multi-processor products.
Experience debugging on real hardware and confidence using basic equipment such as logic analysers and oscilloscopes.
Willingness to test in the field to prove functionality and compliance.
A self-driven attitude and the confidence to be the subject matter expert in a startup, combined with a collaborative approach and a willingness to build on others’ work.
Desirable
Experience with STM32 and Nordic nRF platforms.
Understanding of electronics design, such as reading schematics, and soldering.
TCP/IP and networking experience.
Embedded security experience, such as secure boot, signed or encrypted firmware updates, and awareness of regulations such as the EU Cyber Resilience Act.
Experience with CI systems.
Experience in both regulated environments and R&D or rapid-prototyping environments.
A degree in a related engineering discipline such as software or electronics, though experience is valued more highly.
Future Security Clearance Requirements
As our business scales into the defence and security sectors, the responsibilities of this role are expected to evolve to include projects requiring UK Security Check (SC) clearance.
While an active clearance is not required to apply or start in this role, candidates must be willing and eligible to undergo UK Government security vetting in the future should project requirements dictate it.
To meet the standard eligibility criteria for UK standard SC vetting, you must typically have resided in the UK for the past 5 continuous years, hold a valid passport, and be capable of passing comprehensive background, financial, and criminal record checks.
Why ARD
The mission - The Arctic is the fastest-changing region on Earth. You'll build the intelligence layer that helps understand and steward it - an early-warning system for the planet's coldest edge.
Early stage, real influence - ARD is at an exciting early stage. You'll join while our products, team and culture are still taking shape, and your ideas will directly influence where we go next.
Ownership and accountability - We give people real responsibility from day one. You'll own your work end to end, be trusted to make decisions, and be accountable for delivering results that ship and get used.
A small but growing team - You'll work closely with experienced colleagues across science, software and hardware, with no layers in between. As we grow, you'll help build the team and the ways of working that come next.
WHAT WE OFFER
Competitive compensation
Private Health Insurance from Day 1
Dental & Vision
Equity - meaningful options as an early employee at an early-stage company
Real field exposure - travel to Arctic sites and Outposts when needed
Mission-driven culture - focus on impact, not hours logged
ARD is an equal opportunities employer. We hire on merit, based on skills, experience and potential, and welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. We know great candidates sometimes hold back unless they tick every box, so if this role excites you but your experience doesn’t match every point, we’d still love to hear from you, especially if you bring a background or perspective that is under-represented in science and engineering. If you need any reasonable adjustments during the application or interview process, just let us know at [email protected].