Independent Contractor Embedded Software Engineer Jobs in Colorado

Embedded Software Engineer

Colorado Springs, CO (100% On-Site | 5 Days/Week)

Contract

Must be a U.S. Citizen

@Orchard LLC has an immediate need to fulfill a long-term contract role as an Embedded Software Engineer with Ethernet Switch experience. The role is in support of a client that builds resilient, secure, and decentralized edge infrastructure designed to ensure mission-critical communication and computing under any condition. Our team works at the intersection of advanced hardware and software engineering to deploy hardened systems where failure is not an option.

Position Overview

We are seeking a highly skilled Contract Embedded Software Engineer to join the engineering team in Colorado Springs. In this role, you will play a key part in supporting embedded software and hardware microprocessor development systems. You will develop bare-metal or RTOS applications, write low-level drivers for custom peripherals, and work closely with embedded FPGA processor design flows.

As part of a lean, high-velocity team, you must be a self-starter who thrives with light guidance, possesses strong technical autonomy, and takes pride in building reliable, testable code for specialized hardware.

Key Responsibilities

• Embedded Development: Write, optimize, and maintain high-performance C code for microprocessors, microcontrollers, and FPGA-based embedded processors.
• Peripheral Integration: Design, write, and test applications and low-level drivers for hardware peripherals (e.g., UART, SPI, I2C, PCIe, Ethernet, GPIO).
• FPGA Processor Design Flow: Utilize FPGA embedded processor design flows (e.g., AMD Xilinx MicroBlaze/Zynq, Intel Nios/SoC FPGA) to integrate hardware and software components.
• Testing & Validation: Build, execute, and automate test scripts to validate software functionality, peripheral communication, and hardware-software interaction.
• System Integration & Debugging: Use lab equipment (logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, debuggers, JTAG) to troubleshoot hardware/software integration issues.
• Independent Execution: Own features from requirement to deployment, working independently and collaboratively within a tight-knit engineering team.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Must be a U.S. Citizen (required due to security/compliance standards).
• Core Programming: Expert-level C programming skills specifically tailored for resource-constrained embedded environments.
• Hardware/Microprocessor Systems: Deep hands-on experience supporting embedded hardware and microprocessor development setups.
• FPGA Processor Flows: Proven experience with embedded FPGA processor design workflows, soft/hard IP cores, and hardware-software co-design.
• Peripheral Drivers: Demonstrated success writing bare-metal or low-level applications/drivers for standard peripheral interfaces.
• Scripting & Automation: Strong experience building and running test scripts (Python, Bash, or similar) for automated hardware validation.
• Work Style: Self-motivated, highly accountable, and comfortable operating independently with light guidance in a small-team environment.
• Presence: Willingness and ability to work 5 days per week on-site at our facility in Colorado Springs, CO.

Preferred / Nice-to-Have Skills

• Experience with RTOS (FreeRTOS, VxWorks, Zephyr) or Embedded Linux system development.
• Familiarity with hardware description languages (VHDL or Verilog).
• Background in secure boot, cryptographic hardware acceleration, or hardened defensive systems.

Compensation: The anticipated base salary range is $130,000 - $170,000. The full compensation package is determined by experience and qualifications. Our client offers a competitive benefits package to all staff members.

Established in 2010, @Orchard LLC has an exceptional reputation, providing staffing solutions to time-sensitive talent scarcity issues to deliver better talent management ROI.  Our specialty lies in the critical area of program talent acquisition and resource management, not in one narrow skill set, but across many areas of technical and functional delivery. To learn more about our other exciting opportunities, visit our Jobs Page at www.atOrchard.com.