Principal Software Engineer - UAV Ground Control Station

About the role

EDGE, an advanced technology group based in Abu Dhabi focused on defence and emerging technologies, is looking for an experienced Principal Software Engineer to lead the design, development, integration and verification of software for UAV Ground Control Station (GCS) systems. The role covers mission planning, command and control, flight monitoring, telemetry visualization, payload management and real-time situational awareness, with technical leadership in software architecture, HMI/UI development, system integration and automated testing.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, integration, testing and maintenance of UAV GCS software.
• Develop software for mission planning, command and control, flight monitoring, telemetry visualization, vehicle health monitoring, alerts, payload control, video streaming and map-based situational awareness.
• Lead the development of HMI and UI for mission operations and real-time vehicle monitoring.
• Integrate autopilots, navigation systems, avionics, payload controllers, sensors and communication systems with GCS applications.
• Design communication interfaces for RF, SATCOM, IP networks and UAV datalinks, handling latency, packet loss and degraded conditions.
• Build real-time data processing for telemetry, navigation, video, payload and vehicle health data.
• Maintain scalable, modular, high-performance software architectures and lead code reviews, design reviews, estimation and planning.
• Develop automated unit, integration, system, simulation and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing frameworks.
• Troubleshoot software, integration and real-time performance issues during lab, field and flight tests.
• Support requirements analysis, verification and validation, configuration management and documentation, and contribute to cybersecurity hardening.
• Ensure compliance with aerospace, defence, safety, quality and interoperability standards, and mentor software engineers.

Required profile

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Aerospace, Electrical or Computer Engineering or a related field.
• Typically 9-12+ years of software engineering experience, preferably in UAV, aerospace, defence, robotics or embedded systems.
• Demonstrated experience developing UAV GCS software, mission planning, command-and-control, telemetry or payload control software.
• Experience with HMI/UI development, real-time data visualization and operator-facing applications.
• Strong troubleshooting, analytical and communication skills; professional English.

Required skills

• C and C++ programming.
• Real-time and embedded software, including ARM/STM32 platforms and RTOS environments.
• Software architecture, object-oriented design, multithreading, concurrency, networking and distributed systems.
• Communication protocols such as UART, SPI, I2C, CAN, Ethernet and IP networking.
• Automated unit, integration, system and simulation testing.
• Familiarity with Linux and Windows development environments.

Preferred: FreeRTOS, VxWorks or QNX; C#, Python or Java; HIL testing and simulation; DO-178C or NATO STANAG 4586; RF, SATCOM and datalink integration; cybersecurity hardening; mentoring and technical leadership experience.