{"id":2868092,"url":"https://alion.io/job/merlin-labs-staff-software-integration-engineer","title":"Staff Software Integration Engineer","company":{"id":46278,"name":"Merlin Labs","domain":"merlinlabs.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/merlin-labs","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Lever","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":79,"open_postings":6,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.833,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":44,"computed_at":"2026-10-22T06:10:10Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"staff","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Boston, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":200000,"max":265000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":265000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"ARINC","optional":false},{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"CMake","optional":false},{"name":"Debian","optional":false},{"name":"Docker","optional":false},{"name":"Docker Compose","optional":false},{"name":"Git","optional":false},{"name":"Jira","optional":false},{"name":"Linux","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Rust","optional":false},{"name":"ZeroMQ","optional":false},{"name":"Amazon S3","optional":true},{"name":"C","optional":true},{"name":"GitHub Actions","optional":true},{"name":"MIL-STD-1553","optional":true},{"name":"Pytest","optional":true},{"name":"Rest API","optional":true},{"name":"SQL","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-19T14:49:41Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-19","last_verified_at":"2026-10-23T03:40:30Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":3,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":3},"description":"About You:\nYou are a hands-on systems software engineer who takes ownership of complex software and hardware integration efforts, from architecture through deployment and operation. You write disciplined, maintainable code and troubleshoot methodically across real-time applications, Linux hosts, networks, and physical equipment. You work independently, collaborate across engineering disciplines, and help other engineers build on what you deliver.\nAs part of Merlin’s Virtual Test Environments (VTE) team, you will own software connecting aircraft avionics, hardware-in-the-loop test environments, simulation models, and flight-test data systems. Your work will enable engineers to exercise aircraft systems before flight, observe their behavior, and capture and replay data to investigate issues.\nResponsibilities:\nOwn the architecture, development, and sustainment of real-time I/O software and telemetry infrastructure supporting aircraft integration benches and simulation environments.\n\nDevelop modern C++ software on embedded Linux targets to interface with avionics hardware, manage periodic execution and watchdogs, and integrate generated aircraft simulation models.\n\nDevelop and maintain hardware abstraction layers using UEI PowerDNA equipment, vendor SDKs, low-level I/O APIs, and device drivers.\n\nIntegrate ARINC 429, CAN, serial, and discrete I/O using aircraft interface control documents; validate message encoding, signal mapping, update rates, and error handling.\n\nDevelop and maintain asynchronous Rust services that ingest multiple telemetry sources, synchronize and order samples, and stream data to flight-test displays and recording systems.\n\nImplement robust binary protocols and network interfaces using UDP, TCP, and messaging technologies such as ZeroMQ, accounting for packet loss, ordering, buffering, and client liveness.\n\nBuild capabilities for timestamp alignment, session recording, data retrieval, and simulation replay that make integration issues reproducible.\n\nMaintain cross-compilation, packaging, and deployment workflows for ARM Linux targets and Linux hosts, including Yocto SDKs, CMake, Debian packages, systemd, Docker, and Docker Compose.\n\nEstablish automated verification through unit tests, hardware integration tests, parser fuzzing, and Python-based smoke tests and tooling.\n\nPartner with avionics, aircraft software, flight dynamics, and flight test engineers to reproduce aircraft integration conditions in the lab and resolve issues across software and hardware boundaries.\n\nQualifications:\nStrong proficiency in modern C++, including resource management, concurrency, error handling, and maintainable systems software design.\n\nExperience developing timing-sensitive software on Linux, including fixed-period execution, watchdogs, thread synchronization, and reliable startup and shutdown.\n\nDeep familiarity with Linux host and embedded systems, including services, permissions, networking, software builds, deployment, and system-level diagnostics.\n\nExperience integrating avionics or comparable hardware interfaces, including ARINC 429, and the ability to interpret and implement interface control documents.\n\nExperience developing binary serializers and parsers, with attention to byte order, framing, validation, malformed inputs, and protocol compatibility.\n\nStrong understanding of UDP/TCP networking and asynchronous data pipelines, including buffering, packet loss, ordering, backpressure, and connection management.\n\nExperience with embedded Linux cross-compilation and deployment using vendor SDKs and build systems such as CMake.\n\nProficiency in Python for engineering tools, test automation, and data-processing workflows.\n\nExperience developing Rust services, or substantial experience with asynchronous systems programming and the ability to become productive in Rust.\n\nExperience with automated testing, continuous integration, Git-based version control and code review, and Jira or comparable issue tracking.\n\nDemonstrated ability to own an end-to-end system, lead technical decisions, and troubleshoot directly with physical hardware.\n\nAbility to work regularly onsite in our Boston lab to integrate and troubleshoot equipment.\n\nNice to Have:\nDirect experience with UEI PowerDNA/PDNA SDKs or comparable data acquisition and avionics interface platforms from vendors such as NI or Ballard.\n\nExperience with async Rust using Tokio, channels, serde, and axum.\n\nFamiliarity with ARINC 429 labels, SDI/SSM fields, CAN messaging, MIL-STD-1553, and RS-232/RS-422 serial communications.\n\nExperience with IRIG time, NTP, clock alignment, and timestamp-ordered merging of asynchronous data sources.\n\nExperience with Curtiss-Wright IADS or similar flight-test telemetry, ground-station, or engineering data-display systems.\n\nExperience with Yocto SDKs, ARM targets, Debian packaging, systemd services, and Linux device-driver development or troubleshooting.\n\nFamiliarity with flight dynamics and integrating generated six-degree-of-freedom aircraft models into real-time execution environments.\n\nExperience with GoogleTest, pytest, parser fuzzing, and CI/CD pipelines such as GitHub Actions, including self-hosted runners.\n\nExperience with Docker-based deployment on lab or edge systems, S3 data storage, and automated simulation replay workflows.\n\nExperience with REST APIs, JSON schema validation, Cap’n Proto, SQL, or diagnostic interfaces using GL Studio, React, or HTML5.\n\nAviation experience through professional work, flight simulation, or a pilot’s 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