Head of Software & Perception

Barrie, ON

R&D;

Full time

Oct 30, 2026

SKYCAN SYSTEMS INC.

CAPABILITY WITHOUT COMPROMISE

Head of Software & Perception

SW Division Lead — Embedded Firmware, Perception, GCS & Product Security

LOCATION

Barrie, Ontario (onsite)

REPORTS TO

Chief Technology Officer

DIVISION

R&D; Department

WORK ARRANGEMENT

Onsite by default. Up to 2 days remote per week after the first 6 months, subject to controlled-data handling constraints. Full onsite presence during integration and flight-test campaigns.

SECURITY REQUIREMENT

Must be eligible for security assessment under the Controlled Goods Program (CGP).

ABOUT SKYCAN

SkyCan Systems Inc. is a Canadian aerospace and defence company that designs and manufactures uncrewed aerial vehicles for the Government of Canada and allied nations.

Our manufacturing facility is in Barrie, Ontario, supported by a satellite office in Toronto. We are scaling from a small engineering core to a full production organization.

THE ROLE

This role defines the software and firmware architecture spanning the flight controller autopilot, map-based and visual navigation, the ground control station, datalink, mission systems, on-vehicle perception and AI pipelines, and product security. You will lead, hire, and mentor firmware, perception, navigation, and GCS engineers as the division scales, own the software-side interface control documents and requirements traceability, and enforce design assurance to DO-178C objectives and MISRA coding standards.

You will direct software development from prototype through qualified release, represent software at PDR, CDR, TRR, and safety reviews, and contribute to the R&D; roadmap for flight software,



autopilot capability, perception and AI, and mission management jointly with the CTO.

WHAT YOU'LL OWN

- System architecture: Define the software and firmware architecture spanning the flight controller autopilot, map-based and visual navigation, ground control station, datalink, mission systems, on-vehicle perception and AI pipelines, and product security (on-vehicle cryptography and secure boot) — including the logical and physical architecture for onboard computing and networking.
- Team leadership: Lead, hire, and mentor firmware, perception, navigation, and GCS engineers as the division scales. Run design and code reviews, own the software program schedule, and coordinate with the other R&D; heads — Hardware, Airframe & Mechanical, V&V;/Airworthiness and Safety, Systems, Manufacturing, and IT — on integration and requirements.
- Interfaces and traceability: Own the software-side Interface Control Documents for avionics, sensors, datalinks, and ground systems, and maintain traceability from requirements through design, implementation, and verification.
- Safety and compliance: Establish and enforce software design assurance practices compliant with DO-178C objectives at the assurance level appropriate to each component's criticality, and MISRA coding standards.




- Lifecycle management: Direct software development from prototype through qualified release — HIL verification, regression test infrastructure, formal V&V;, and independent verification of auto-generated (model-based) flight code by an engineer who did not author the source model. Represent software at PDR, CDR, TRR, and safety reviews.
- Technology roadmap: Shape the R&D; roadmap for flight software, autopilot capability, perception and AI, and mission management, jointly with the CTO.

WHAT YOU BRING — TECHNICAL

Proficiency levels indicate the depth expected in each area. Items marked Asset are not required.

- Embedded firmware EXPERT: Real-time embedded C/C++ on ARM Cortex-M / STM32H7-class MCUs; RTOS (Azure RTOS, FreeRTOS or similar); bare-metal driver development.
- Open-source flight stack EXPERT: Deep development experience modifying and extending PX4, ArduPilot, or similar frameworks — HAL layer porting, custom module integration, and the MAVLink protocol stack.
- AI and perception DEEP: Model training and deployment for onboard target-recognition workloads; GPU-accelerated inference pipeline design; map-based and visual navigation for GNSS-degraded and denied operation; data/MLOps pipeline ownership from collection and labelling through model iteration and deployment to the target platform.
- Software quality and static analysis DEEP: Static analysis tooling, enforcement of coding standards for safety-critical software (MISRA guidelines), and rigorous code review discipline.
- SIL/HIL and simulation DEEP: Software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop rig integration a

📌 Head of Software (Barrie)
🏢 SkyCan Systems
📍 Barrie