Photon-IV Inc. · Waterloo, Ontario · Full-time · Contract. Hybrid

Photon-IV builds AI software that predicts satellite-to-terrestrial handovers before they happen, so critical connections don't drop. Our work is backed by Department of National Defence contract. We're a small team solving a hard problem: keeping people connected in places where networks fail.

The programSwarmNet is our next gen Drone solution. The mission: a group of autonomous nodes that form a resilient mesh network among themselves, reach out to satellite (NTN) or terrestrial (TN) networks when the mission needs it, and bring every node home. Mesh formation, link selection, and return-to-base are the three problems. You own all three.

You'll make the architecture calls, build prototypes, get them on real radios in the field, and grow the team around what you build.

What you'll own

- End-to-end technical leadership of the SwarmNet build: architecture, prototyping, field testing, iteration.
- The mesh layer: node discovery, self-forming and self-healing topology, and routing that survives nodes dropping out.
- The RF and wireless layer: radio selection, link budgets, antenna and spectrum trade-offs, and making the mesh perform outside the lab.
- The gateway layer: connecting the swarm to satellite and terrestrial networks on demand, working with our prediction engine to pick the right link at the right moment.
- Autonomous return-to-base behaviour: the swarm completes its mission and comes home, including when links are degraded or denied.
- Working directly with the founder on program milestones,



demos, and customer-facing technical discussions.

What you bring
- 5+ years of hands-on engineering across RF/wireless systems and software, ideally at an early-stage company or a skunkworks-style team inside a larger one.
- Real experience building or shipping mesh or ad-hoc networks (MANET, mesh Wi-Fi, tactical radios, LoRa/802.15.4 meshes, or similar).
- Robust software development skills in a systems language (C/C++, Rust, or Go) plus Python for tooling and prototyping.
- Practical RF fluency: you can read a link budget, debug a radio that won't associate, and explain why the mesh died at 400 metres.
- Comfort owning a build end to end with minimal structure, and the judgment to know what to prototype cheap and what to engineer properly.
- Eligibility for Canadian defence work: Canadian citizen or permanent resident, able to obtain a Government of Canada security clearance and to be registered under the Controlled Goods Program. This is a hard requirement.

Nice to have
- 3GPP NTN, satcom terminals, or direct-to-device experience.
- O-RAN architecture exposure (xApps/rApps, RIC platforms).
- Embedded/edge deployment experience (Jetson-class hardware, real-time constraints).
- UAV, robotics, or autonomous-systems background, especially swarm coordination.
- Software-defined radio work (GNU Radio, USRP or similar).

Practical details
- Location: Waterloo, Ontario (hybrid); field testing travel within Canada.
- Compensation: 70-85k
- Posting disclosures: This posting is for an existing vacancy.

📌 Embedded Firmware Engineer - Swarmnet Mesh Software (Waterloo)
🏢 Photon Iv
📍 Waterloo