Group Head / Sr. DGM - Software Systems

Job Description

Group Head / Sr. DGM – Software Systems

Domain: Land Defence Systems
Experience: 15–20 Years
People Management Experience: Minimum 5 Years

Location: Talegaon / Hazira

Role Overview

We are seeking an accomplished Technical Leader – Embedded Software, RTOS & Mission-Critical Systems to provide technology leadership for the development of advanced software platforms and mission-critical embedded applications for land-based defence systems.

The role will provide technical ownership across the complete software product lifecycle—from software architecture, technology strategy and requirements definition through detailed design, development, integration, verification, qualification, deployment and lifecycle support.

The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in embedded software, real-time operating systems, VxWorks, Linux, Qt/QML, C/C++, distributed systems and software architecture, combined with proven experience leading multidisciplinary software engineering teams and delivering complex, safety- and mission-critical systems.

The candidate should be capable of operating across low-level embedded software, BSP/device drivers, RTOS, middleware, application software, graphical user interfaces and system-level software architecture, while providing technical leadership and building a high-performing software organization.

Key Responsibilities

1. Software Technical & System Leadership

• Provide technical leadership and strategic direction for embedded, real-time, platform and application software for land defence systems.
• Act as the senior technical authority for software architecture and engineering across assigned programmes.
• Define software architectures, technology roadmaps, development methodologies and technical strategies aligned with defence programme requirements.
• Lead software architecture and design reviews covering:
  • Software requirements
  • Functional decomposition
  • Software partitioning
  • Architectural trade-offs
  • Interface definition
  • Performance and resource utilization
  • Cybersecurity considerations
  • Verification and validation strategy
• Establish and drive software architecture standards, reusable frameworks, common platforms and design patterns across programmes.
• Ensure software solutions meet stringent requirements for real-time performance, reliability, determinism, availability, maintainability and mission readiness.
• Provide technical leadership during customer reviews, architecture reviews, programme reviews and system integration activities.
• Drive resolution of complex software and system-level technical issues.
• Work closely with systems engineering, electronics, power electronics, controls, mechanical, vehicle integration, weapons and platform teams.

2. Embedded Software & RTOS

• Lead development of mission-critical embedded software based on RTOS and real-time computing architectures.
• Provide deep technical direction on VxWorks-based embedded systems, including:
  • Task/thread architecture
  • Scheduling
  • Inter-task communication
  • Synchronization
  • Interrupt handling
  • Memory management
  • Timing and determinism
  • Performance optimization
  • Fault handling
• Lead development of embedded software using C/C++ for real-time and resource-constrained systems.
• Guide development of Board Support Packages (BSPs), device drivers, hardware abstraction layers and middleware.
• Define robust interfaces between application software, middleware, RTOS, device drivers and hardware.
• Drive best practices for:
  • Real-time scheduling
  • Concurrency
  • Multithreading
  • Memory management
  • Exception handling
  • Fault recovery
  • Watchdog and health-monitoring mechanisms
• Lead performance analysis and optimization of real-time embedded systems.

3. Linux & Platform Software

• Provide technical leadership for embedded Linux and Linux-based platform architectures.
• Guide development of:
  • Embedded Linux platforms
  • Device drivers
  • BSPs
  • Middleware
  • System services
  • Inter-process communication
  • Networking stacks
  • Hardware abstraction layers
• Drive Linux platform customization, configuration, optimization and integration for defence applications.
• Define architecture for systems involving Linux and RTOS-based heterogeneous computing environments.
• Lead integration of Linux-based mission applications with real-time control and embedded subsystems.
• Drive adoption of appropriate open-source technologies while ensuring configuration management, security, licensing and long-term maintainability.

4. Qt / GUI & Application Software

• Provide technical leadership for development of Qt/QML-based graphical user interfaces and operator-control applications.
• Define software architecture for modern, responsive and maintainable HMI/operator interfaces.
• Guide development of:
  • Qt/C++ applications
  • Qt/QML user interfaces
  • Real-time data visualization
  • System status and health monitoring
  • Mission displays
  • Operator control interfaces
  • Diagnostics and maintenance interfaces
• Ensure efficient integration between GUI/application layers and real-time embedded systems.
• Drive development of reusable UI frameworks, widgets and software components across defence programmes.
• Ensure GUI solutions meet requirements for performance, usability, reliability and degraded/fault operating modes.

5. Software Architecture & Platform Engineering

• Define scalable and modular software architectures for complex defence platforms.
• Establish appropriate software partitioning across:
  • Bare-metal systems
  • RTOS
  • Embedded Linux
  • Application processors
  • Mission computers
  • Vehicle control units
  • Distributed computing nodes
• Define communication and middleware architectures using appropriate technologies and protocols.
• Drive development of common software platforms and reusable middleware.
• Establish software design standards, coding guidelines, architecture patterns and engineering best practices.
• Promote modularity, portability, configurability and technology reuse.
• Evaluate emerging software technologies and determine their suitability for mission-critical defence applications.

6. Real-Time, Distributed & Networked Systems

• Lead architecture and development of distributed real-time software systems.
• Provide technical direction for inter-process and inter-system communication.
• Define communication architectures for embedded and distributed platforms.
• Guide implementation of deterministic communication and data exchange mechanisms.
• Work with system teams on interfaces involving:
  • Ethernet
  • CAN/CAN-FD