Reftek Systems is looking for a sharp, hands-on Senior Software/Firmware Developer to join our engineering team in Burnside, Nova Scotia. You’ll work at the edge of embedded systems, instrumentation, and seismic technology—turning ambitious ideas into working hardware and software. Working alongside senior firmware and electrical engineers, you’ll have significant ownership in architecting, prototyping, and building the software and firmware behind our next generation of products.

If you like small teams, hard technical problems, rapid prototyping, and seeing your code come to life on real hardware, this is the kind of work you’ll enjoy.

Reftek has a skunkworks mentality : small teams, fast decisions, technical curiosity, and a bias toward building rather than presentations and paperwork. Design and develop clean, efficient, modular firmware and software for embedded products and instrumentation systems. Break complex engineering problems into manageable work units and carry them through implementation, testing, debugging, and documentation.

Collaborate with firmware and electrical engineers on system architecture, hardware integration, board bring-up, and new product development. Diagnose and resolve software, firmware, communications, and system-level issues. Develop unit, integration, and system-level tests to maintain software quality and reliability.

Build automated tools and test systems to accelerate firmware development and hardware validation.



Develop and troubleshoot network communications and telemetry for distributed, bandwidth-constrained edge systems. Document software and firmware architecture, interfaces, product features, development processes, and test procedures.

Participate in technical reviews and contribute to engineering decisions throughout the product development cycle. Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience. ~5+ years of professional experience with C/C++. ~ Solid understanding of embedded software architecture and hardware/software interfaces. ~ Knowledge of TCP/IP and network stack programming. ~ Working knowledge of Python, Bash, or similar scripting languages. ~ Experience with Git and modern software development practices. ~ Networked embedded systems and distributed instrumentation. Automated hardware and firmware testing.

Database programming.

Experience with scientific instrumentation, sensors, data acquisition, telemetry, or other field-deployed systems. Ownership — take a problem from first idea through prototype, test, and deployment. Practical engineering — build, measure, test, and learn rather than over-design on paper.

Systems thinking — understand how software, electronics, communications, and the physical environment interact. Competitive salary and advantages package. Opportunity to take products from early concepts and prototypes through field deployment.

📌 Senior Software/Firmware Developer (Nova Scotia)
🏢 Refraction Technology
📍 Nova Scotia