About us

Aquila is a fast-growing startup developing dynamic, wireless optical energy networking to power sectors underserved by traditional grid infrastructure—think electric aircraft charged in-flight that never have to land… or mines bustling with cool robotics and powered by wireless energy networks—the possibilities are endless! We're backed by some of the best investors in the world, such as Blackbird, Possible and Icehouse, and we're working with fantastic partners to develop novel and exciting capabilities. We have offices in Sydney and Auckland, so there are plenty of travel opportunities abroad!

We believe in the power of teamwork and collaboration. We are a dynamic and supportive team of Eagles sharing a passion for pushing the boundaries of what is possible. We're looking for exceptional people driven to power the future by solving first-class problems with world-class engineering, and everyone owns their work end-to-end. No need to deal with crazy legacy spaghetti where you have no idea why things were done "how they've always been done".

At Aquila, we believe in shaping the role around the candidate and the team. As such, if there's a domain you do not fit into, please do not hesitate to apply anyway!

The role

As an electronics firmware engineer at Aquila, you will be responsible for two domains:

First, implementing a fast and performant control suite for the targeting system. With support from the team in delivering a light-speed optical targeting signal, the role involves interfacing, controlling, and actuating the real-time fine steering system to target a drone at 1km.

Second, programming the receiver firmware systems to communicate with the ground (sunflower) and roughly aim the drone-mounted gimbal (suncave) to the ground laser turret (sunflower). Utilising off-the-shelf RTK and radio solutions and modified off-the-shelf gimbal solutions to optimise development time. This role involves reliably transmitting critical data to the ground via radio.

Your work will be critical in trailblazing an unprecedented wireless energy networking platform—an "internet of energy"—to power an unlimited future.

The role spans all design aspects, from requirements definition through learning, design, implementation, and automated testing of PCB (or FPGA if required) boards and their firmware routines and implementing cutting-edge control algorithms in performant low-level software.

Who we're looking for

Aquila seeks a highly skilled electronics firmware engineer to join our team. Successful candidates will

• Self-teach and learn on the job. We are doing something entirely new, so we must find out together and learn.

• Bring new technical insights and best practices from the industry into the company to help us learn.

• Contribute to the high-level systems architecture and ensure development carries out the architectural vision.

• Relentlessly develop end-to-end solutions for fast and performant electronics, firmware, and complex control theory problems.

• Maintain high levels of communication with our team concerning product requirements, timelines, risks, and priorities.

• Collaborate with our team to interface (or develop) these solutions into an overlaying Lightway energy networking platform.

Responsibilities

• Control system engineering

• Low-level programming (C/C++)

• Electronics development

• Firmware development

• Firmware test execution and automation with CI/CD best practices

• Implementing modern C++ in an embedded environment

• Software version control with best practice Git

We love candidates with the following qualifications/aptitudes. Still, you don't need to meet them all—if you have a strong work ethic and a voracious hunger to solve first-class problems through developing world-class technology, we want you on our team.

• A proven ability to produce complex firmware for embedded, including debugging and testing, with or without an RTOS leveraging demonstrated proficiency in low-level STM32 programming and encompassing expertise in bare-metal coding.

• Familiar with many of the following parts interacting with them from a firmware context: ADCs, DACs, OpAmps, power supplies (linear, LDO, DC/DC), FPGAs, microcontrollers, processors, memory and MOSFETs

• Knowledge of standard communication methods such as RS232, RS422, I2C, SPI, LVDS, Ethernet, CAN or PCIe and interfacing Jetson Orin Nano Development hardware

• Hardware debugging virtuosity; familiarity with oscilloscope and logic analyser tools.

• Experience with writing software for safety-critical embedded systems.

• Developing requirements in coordination with systems engineering, hardware engineering, software engineering and subsystem owners

Above all else, we hire candidates who deeply connect with

• Our Values

And are aligned with

• What we look for at Aquila

Aquila Perks & Benefits

• Everyone is an owner. In addition to excellent base compensation, every 'eagle' owns equity in the company, so we all benefit from our hard work and future success. Everyone is given a unique and epic eagle avatar upon signing the contract to join Aquila.

• Generous paid parental leave. We offer eight weeks of paid caregiver leave and an additional eight weeks of paid leave for the birth giver.

• Relocation budget & support. Support for interstate or overseas team members and their families (including pets!)

• Flexible working hours and location. While we often enjoy shooting lasers around—with the utmost safety—in our fully decked-out laser facilities, if there are days when we can work from anywhere, then we feel free to work from anywhere!

• Generous personal leave. At Aquila, we recognise that sometimes you need time off to recuperate, look after your mental health, or deal with an emergency. We put unlimited (within reason) personal leave in place to empower you to bring your best self to work every day, and you are always paid for days taken off as personal leave.

• We care about our people: At Aquila, we don't focus on what our people can do for us; we focus on what we can do for our people. As part of our commitment to our people, we provide an annual $2k budget for side projects, gizmos and gadgets you want to develop, skills you want to learn, and ways you want to grow outside work.

• Company-wide social events. Monthly birthday celebrations, Quarterly offsite hiking through beautiful Australian and Aotearoa landscapes, annual end-of-year celebrations and much more!

• Great, decked-out offices! An inclusive community and culture in a welcoming office—with lasers and cutting-edge hardware

• A variety of social clubs. We encourage all our Eagles to build the culture with us and share what they love by creating social clubs across the business. From book clubs to hiking groups, we constantly seek ways to learn and engage with our team.

If you're a budding world-class electronics and firmware engineer hungry to make a massive impact, we want to hear from you! Aquila welcomes applicants from all backgrounds. Join our team and help us build an infinitely scalable energy network that powers a more abundant, limitless, and sustainable future.