Director of Software Engineering

Director of Software Engineering

Advanced Robotics & Autonomous Systems

Paris, France | International Search

Salary: Competitive + equity + relocation support

Airbotics Talent are partnered with a well-funded European robotics company developing a new generation of advanced autonomous systems.

We are looking for a Director of Software Engineering to take ownership of the complete vehicle software stack, while building and leading the engineering team around them.

You will connect low-level firmware and embedded systems with application logic, system behaviour and autonomy integration, ensuring the platform operates reliably as a complete robotic system.

This is a hands-on leadership position. You will write and review production code while establishing the software architecture, engineering standards, security and development practices required to deploy highly reliable software onto complex physical systems.

The Role

You will own software development end-to-end, from firmware and hardware bring-up through embedded Linux, communications, application logic, security, testing and deployment.

This includes:

• Defining the overall software architecture, including how firmware, application software and autonomy components work together
• Developing application logic, operating modes, subsystem coordination and fault-handling behaviours across the vehicle
• Designing, developing and maintaining reliable firmware in C and C++ for embedded microcontrollers across bare-metal and RTOS environments
• Bringing up new hardware, including bootloaders, device drivers and board support packages
• Developing software for embedded Linux and RTOS-based systems
• Implementing and debugging communications across Ethernet, TCP/IP, USB, CAN, SPI, I²C, UART and wireless technologies
• Integrating sensors, actuators, communications hardware and other peripherals
• Developing real-time control, communications and telemetry paths
• Architecting and implementing security at operating system level, including encryption and secure storage
• Optimising software for performance, memory footprint, reliability and power consumption
• Building automated unit, integration and hardware-in-the-loop testing
• Troubleshooting complex hardware/software problems during development and field deployment
• Working closely with electronics, mechanical and autonomy engineers to translate system requirements into a coherent vehicle software architecture
• Establishing software engineering standards, code review practices, deployment processes and development tooling
• Building and leading the software team as the organisation scales

You will operate as a player-coach: contributing directly to the engineering while recruiting, developing and leading the team responsible for the platform’s software.

The Person

This role is suited to a software leader who has built and deployed software onto complex physical systems, understands how the different layers work together and wants to remain close to the engineering.

You are likely to have:

• 7+ years of software engineering experience within robotics, aerospace, automotive or another complex hardware environment, including substantial embedded development
• Experience owning software architecture across a complete robotic system or complex physical product, spanning embedded components and application-level functionality
• Deep hands-on C and C++ development experience with evidence of software deployed onto real-world systems
• Experience designing application logic, operating states, subsystem interfaces and fault recovery
• Strong experience developing firmware for microcontrollers, ideally including STM32
• Experience across embedded Linux and/or RTOS environments
• Experience developing embedded software for wireless communications systems using technologies such as Bluetooth/BLE, Wi-Fi, LoRa, UWB or similar
• Strong knowledge of communication protocols and interfaces including Ethernet, TCP/IP, USB, CAN, SPI, I²C and UART
• Strong hardware/software integration capability, including reading schematics and datasheets and debugging using oscilloscopes, logic analysers and JTAG/SWD
• Experience with board bring-up, bootloaders, device drivers and board support packages
• Demonstrable experience architecting and implementing security at operating system level
• Experience with disk encryption technologies such as LUKS
• Previous experience leading engineers and building strong software engineering practices

Experience with Rust, Nix/NixOS, ROS 2, digital signal processing, Protobuf/DDS, CI/CD for embedded systems, automated hardware testing or safety-critical software development would be advantageous.

This role is unlikely to be a fit if:

• You are looking for a purely strategic or people-management leadership role
• Your experience is confined to one software layer, without broader architecture or integration responsibility
• Your background is primarily cloud, web or enterprise software without substantial embedded systems experience
• You have moved entirely away from writing and debugging software on physical hardware

Why Join?

• Own the complete software architecture of a new generation of autonomous systems
• Build the software function and team from the ground up
• Join an ambitious international engineering team working across software, electronics, mechanical engineering and autonomy
• Remain hands-on while operating at leadership level
• See your work move from architecture and code into physical systems and real-world testing
• Join a well-funded European deep-tech company at a formative stage of growth
• Relocate to Paris with support from the company

International Candidates & Relocation

This is an international search. Our client welcomes interest from exceptional European engineering talent currently based across Europe, the US and other global technology hubs who would consider relocating to Paris.

Relocation support is available, and we welcome an initial conversation with candidates who are interested in the opportunity but would like to understand the move and support available before committing.

The position is based in Paris, with regular hands-on access to hardware and engineering facilities, alongside travel for system integration and field testing.

Our client is looking to make this hire immediately. Please apply with a CV for consideration.

Airbotics Talent are committed to providing Equal Employment Opportunities. All candidates are assessed solely on suitability for our clients’ requirements without regard to age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, disability, medical history or marital status.