Roles / RTOS Engineer

RTOS Engineer

SW-007v1

Embedded Software, Firmware & DriversSoftwareIC3–IC6Individual contributor

Also known as: Real-Time Operating System Engineer; RTOS Kernel Developer; Real-Time Systems Software Engineer

See this role on the Firmware and software lifecycle or on the Avionics lifecycle or on the Industrial lifecycle or on the SoC lifecycle

Summary

Builds, ports and tunes the real-time operating system that guarantees deterministic response on embedded silicon. Exists because hard deadlines in motor control, safety and communications cannot be met by a best-effort scheduler.

A day in the life

Work in progressNo day-in-the-life description has been written for this role yet. If you do this work, we would welcome yours. Suggest a source or a correction

Responsibilities

Lines tagged General are the Hub's general description of this kind of role, used where the role register has no entry yet. They are kept under review and will be refined.

Project

Work done for a product or program.

Port and maintain RTOS kernels such as FreeRTOS, Zephyr, ThreadX, QNX Neutrino, VxWorks or SafeRTOS onto new SoC and core variants.
Implement and tune context switch, scheduler, tick and interrupt-latency paths in architecture-specific kernel ports.
Design task, priority and resource-locking schemes that provably avoid priority inversion, deadlock and unbounded blocking.
Measure and characterise worst-case interrupt latency, context-switch time and jitter on real silicon.
Perform schedulability analysis and worst-case execution time estimation for critical task sets.
Configure memory protection unit regions and partitioning to isolate tasks in mixed-criticality systems.
Integrate RTOS with multicore and AMP topologies, including inter-core messaging and core affinity policies.
Instrument the system with kernel-aware tracing to diagnose missed deadlines and CPU-starvation issues.
Maintain safety and security qualification evidence for certified RTOS variants under IEC 61508 or ISO 26262.
Advise product teams on RTOS selection, licensing and configuration trade-offs.

Function

Work that keeps the discipline running: methods, tools, suppliers and people.

Maintain coding standards, build systems and test automation.General
Keep software aligned with operating system, toolchain and standards updates.General
Review code and mentor other engineers.General

Major tasks

Project

Produce and hand over the role's key deliverables
- RTOS board and architecture port with documented BSP layer
- Latency, jitter and context-switch characterisation reports
- Task design and schedulability analysis documents
- MPU partitioning and configuration specification
- Kernel-aware trace configurations and analysis templates
Develop the softwareGeneral
- Design to the hardware specification
- Write and review the code
- Test on models, emulation or silicon
Release and supportGeneral
- Package and document releases
- Fix customer-reported defects

Function

Maintain the platformGeneral
- Keep build, test and release tools working
- Track toolchain and operating system changes
Raise qualityGeneral
- Run code reviews
- Extend automated tests

Works with

Firmware engineers
functional safety engineers
control systems engineers
silicon architects
hypervisor engineers
test and validation teams

Typical backgrounds

BS/MS in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering or Computer Science; 4–12 years in real-time embedded systems; often from motor control, avionics or automotive control backgrounds.

Demand signal

0 open listings right now
0 Talent Wafer employer inquiries

Counts live listings tagged to this role, and employer interest in candidates from Talent Wafer runs for this role (all runs to date). Hub activity only, not the wider market.

Comp tier (within semis)

3 / 5

Remote feasibility

Medium

Semis core vs. portable

Semis-primary, transfers

Geographic hotspots

Munich, Stuttgart, Detroit, Austin, Bangalore, Tokyo, Nagoya, Shanghai, Gothenburg, Toulouse

Certifications / standards training

TÜV Certified Functional Safety Engineer; Zephyr Project training; QNX or VxWorks vendor certification

Transfers to (industries)

Avionics, medical devices, industrial drives and motion control, railway signalling, defence, robotics, power electronics

Risk if vacant

Real-time deadlines are missed unpredictably, safety qualification cannot be argued and control applications become unshippable.

RTOS Engineer

Summary

A day in the life

Responsibilities

Project

Function

Major tasks

Project

Function

Works with

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