Jobs and Careers

Senior SDK Engineer

UKRemotefull_timeVerifiedPosted 20 Feb 2026

💰 $183,000/yr($164,000/yr – $183,000/yr)

About the role

Who We Are At Firestorm, we’re on a mission to revolutionize how defense solutions are designed and delivered. Our goal is to empower U.S. ally nations to effectively deter aggressors — regardless of their defense budget — through innovative, cost-efficient technologies. We call this vision “democratized deterrence.” As a VC-backed company at the intersection of defense and Silicon Valley, we’re pioneering the development of mission-adaptable aerial vehicles that put power back into the hands of operators. By prioritizing operator effectiveness, we’re pioneering a new era of aerial vehicle design. We aim to upend the traditional defense procurement model by delivering world-class capabilities at a fraction of the usual cost. Join us at Firestorm as we redefine defense procurement, making cutting-edge technology accessible to all at a fraction of the cost. About the Role Firestorm is seeking a Senior SDK Engineer to join our Software team and help shape SparkSDK —the toolkit developers use to integrate vehicle payloads, sensors, and data links into Firestorm’s ecosystem. You’ll report to the SparkSDK lead, and work closely with platform, autonomy, avionics, and applications teams to build a robust, secure, and developer-friendly SDK that powers real defense missions. This is a high-impact, hands-on engineering role focused on designing and delivering a modular, cross-platform SDK with clean APIs, strong versioning guarantees, and first-class language wrappers/FFIs. You’ll implement a C/C++ core and expose it to multiple languages (C, C++, Java, Python, C#, etc.), enabling integrators to quickly connect to WarRoom and other Firestorm apps and services, application gateways, vehicle onboard services, and ground control software. You’ll help ensure interoperability with industry and defense standards while upholding security and performance requirements. What You'll Do

Design and implement SparkSDK core modules in modern C++.
Build and maintain language bindings and FFIs (e.g., C ABI/PInvoke, JNI/JNA, pybind11/cffi, C# P/Invoke/Source Generators; Rust FFI as a bonus) to deliver first-class developer experiences across C/C++, Java, Python, and C#.
Define clean, versioned APIs (SemVer, deprecation strategy) and deliver SDK packages, installers, and artifacts across Linux, Windows, and Android (e.g., deb/rpm/AppImage, MSI/MSIX, AAR/APK add-ons).
Integrate comms and payload protocols and data models/IDLs (e.g., Protobuf/FlatBuffers); implement adapters to EmberCore and message middleware.
Own the developer experience: samples, quickstarts, idiomatic wrappers, error models, logging/telemetry hooks, and clear documentation that make integration fast and intuitive.
Engineer for real-time and mission-critical use: deterministic behavior, back-pressure, zero-copy paths, bounded latencies, and graceful degradation on CPU/GPU-constrained hardware.
Harden security by default: memory-safe patterns, least-privilege design, secure transport (OpenSSL/libsodium), key/material handling, and supply-chain integrity for third-party deps.
Build reliability into CI/CD: cross-platform builds (CMake, Conan/vcpkg), automated unit/integration tests (Catch2/GoogleTest, pytest, JUnit, NUnit), fuzzing, sanitizers, codegen validation.
Collaborate across teams and with partners to gather requirements, refine APIs, and support field integrations; contribute to platform-wide architecture and roadmap discussions.
Contribute to operability: diagnostics, tracing, metrics, compatibility matrices, and upgrade playbooks for customers in the field.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field.
5+ years professional experience building SDKs/libraries or platform APIs in modern C++ (C++17/10) with cross-platform delivery (Linux/Windows/Android).
U.S. Citizenship and the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance.
Proven experience creating and maintaining language wrappers/FFIs for at least two of: Java, Python, C# (plus C/C++). Rust FFI experience is a strong plus.
Strong integration background with real-time or mission-critical systems (3+ years) including async/event-driven networking (TCP/UDP, REST, WebSockets, DDS/gRPC/ZeroMQ).
Familiarity with industry/defense protocols and standards (e.g., RAS-A, MAVLink, STANAG 4586, OMS/UCI, Link 16) and data serialization (Protobuf/FlatBuffers).
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