Embedded Engineer

Kodainya is hiring an embedded engineer to own the firmware and flight-systems stack across its defence-drone testbed programme. The role sits within the engineering group and reports to the head of platforms.

The engineer will lead sensor bring-up, autopilot integration, and hardware-in-the-loop validation across fixed-wing, rotary, and hybrid VTOL testbeds. Work spans MCU-level firmware on ARM Cortex-M targets, RTOS scheduling, MAVLink telemetry, and integration with ground control software. The role runs from board bring-up through production release, including EKF tuning, failsafe logic, and post-flight log analysis.

The role suits engineers who have shipped production firmware on flight controllers, worked with a mainline autopilot stack, and want to build indigenous flight-systems capability aligned with the Ministry of Defence's Aatmanirbhar Bharat framework. Kodainya's defence-drone programme is India-anchored. All engineering work is done in Bengaluru with periodic deployments to trial sites in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Rajasthan.

• Own firmware development across ARM Cortex-M and STM32-class flight controllers, from board bring-up through production release.
• Integrate IMU, magnetometer, barometer, GNSS, and lidar sensors, and tune sensor-fusion pipelines against ground-truth data.
• Bring up autopilot software stacks (PX4, ArduPilot, or in-house forks), including MAVLink telemetry, EKF tuning, and failsafe logic.
• Design and run hardware-in-the-loop test rigs covering flight modes, sensor failures, GPS-denied conditions, and comms loss.
• Contribute to the ground control station firmware interface, including telemetry parsing, log playback, and mission upload.
• Own the flight-log analysis pipeline, from raw ULog or BIN files through anomaly detection and post-flight review.
• Work with the mechanical and RF teams on antenna placement, EMI mitigation, and vibration isolation for onboard electronics.
• Document board schematics, firmware architecture, and test procedures inside the Kodainya engineering handbook.

• Bachelor's or Master's in electronics, electrical, computer engineering, or aerospace, with 3 to 6 years of production embedded systems experience.
• Fluent in C and C++ across bare-metal, RTOS (FreeRTOS or Zephyr), and Linux userspace targets.
• Direct experience with at least one production autopilot stack (PX4, ArduPilot, iNav, or equivalent).
• Working knowledge of MAVLink, DDS, or equivalent telemetry protocols, and comfort with ROS or ROS 2 integration.
• Hands-on experience with sensor bring-up across IMU, GNSS, magnetometer, barometer, and one of lidar, optical flow, or radar.
• Comfort with logic analysers, oscilloscopes, and bench-level debugging on custom PCB targets.
• Version control fluency in Git, with experience on multi-branch firmware release workflows.
• Willingness to work on-site in Bengaluru and travel to trial sites for flight campaigns.

• Experience with GPS-denied navigation, visual-inertial odometry, or SLAM pipelines.
• Familiarity with DGCA type certification and Ministry of Defence trial protocols.
• Exposure to the iDEX ecosystem, DRDO test facilities, or DPSU integration projects.
• Prior work on tethered platforms, loitering munitions, or counter-drone effectors.
• Contributions to open-source autopilot or ground station projects.
• Reading knowledge of one Indian language beyond English.