Embedded Software Engineer

Location: Kanata, ON

About Wind River

Wind River is a global leader in delivering software for mission-critical intelligent systems. For more than four decades, the company has been an innovator and pioneer, powering billions of systems that require the highest levels of security, safety, and reliability.

Wind River helps customers across automotive, aerospace, defense, industrial, medical, and telecommunications industries solve complex technology challenges on their journey toward the new intelligent machine economy. The company’s software powers generation after generation of the safest, most secure systems in the world. Examples include playing a key role in NASA space missions such as Artemis I, the James Webb Space Telescope, and multiple Mars rovers. We’ve achieved recent 5G milestones including the world’s first successful 5G data session with Verizon and building one of the largest Open RAN networks in the world with Vodafone.

The company has received industry recognition for its technology innovation and leadership, and for its workplace culture, including global Great Place to Work certification and being named a “Top Workplace” for ten consecutive years. If you want to be part of a unique culture where the lived experience is based on our cultural attributes of growth mindset, customer-focus, and diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging, come join us and help advance the future software defined world.

YOUR ROLE

As an RTOS development engineer, you will contribute to the development of Wind River’s next-generation real-time operating system. You’ll work alongside experienced engineers to design, implement, and validate core OS functionality, while growing your expertise in real-time systems.

This role is ideal for candidates with a strong academic foundation in operating systems—particularly real-time systems—and hands-on experience from demanding courses or projects (e.g., building kernels, schedulers, or synchronization primitives).

How You Will Contribute

In your daily work, you will:

• Contribute to the design and implementation of OS components with guidance from senior engineers
• Develop high-quality, maintainable code and tests within a CI/CD and agile environment
• Debug and resolve issues found during testing or reported by internal teams
• Write clear technical documentation for designs and implementations
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including hardware, tools, and verification
• Learn and apply best practices in real-time, safety-critical software development

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering, System Design or related field
• 0–3 years of relevant experience, including internships, co-ops, or academic project work
• Knowledge of operating systems concepts, such as:
• Threads and scheduling (including real-time scheduling)
• Synchronization (mutex, semaphores, queues)
• Memory management and virtual memory
• Interrupts and concurrency
• Excellent programming skills in C
• Hands-on experience implementing OS-level concepts, for example through:
• A real-time systems course (e.g., University of Waterloo CS452 or equivalent)
• Robotics or other OS systems projects
• Strong problem-solving and debugging skills
• Familiarity with Linux/Unix development environments
• Experience with Git or similar version control systems
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Eagerness to learn and grow in a collaborative environment

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with:
• Embedded or real-time systems, robotics, IoT
• Low-level development (e.g., drivers, interrupts, hardware interaction)
• Exposure to:
• Assembly, C++, or Python
• Performance analysis or concurrency debugging
• Familiarity with real-time constraints (latency, determinism, deadlines)
• Understanding of software development practices such as testing, CI/CD, and code reviews

What Sets You Apart

• Demonstrated excellence in a rigorous systems course (e.g., implementing a kernel, scheduler, or concurrency primitives under real-time constraints)
• Curiosity about how systems work at a low level
• Ability to reason about correctness under concurrency
• Strong ownership of projects, even in early-career settings (course, co-op, or personal work)

Growth Opportunities

• Work closely with experienced OS engineers and technical leaders
• Gain hands-on experience in production-grade RTOS development

Grow into ownership of subsystems and features over time

BENEFITS - Canada

• Workplace Flexibility: Hybrid Work.
• Company-sponsored health, dental, and life insurance.
• Income protection through short and long-term disability coverage.
• Matching RRSP.
• Vacation and various time off policies to encourage work-life balance.
• Well-being programs: Employee assistance program, mental well-being through Unmind.
• Learning benefits: LinkedIn Learning subscription and seminars.

APPLICANT PRIVACY NOTICE

Your privacy is of the utmost importance to us. At Wind River, we strictly adhere to all applicable data privacy laws. Please review Wind River's Applicant Privacy Notice, which can be found here .

“Wind River is an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law”

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