Senior Flight Software Engineer

Role Summary

We are seeking a highly-motivated and hands-on Senior Software Engineer to join our growing team. In this role, you’ll design, develop, and maintain flight software systems for spacecraft and telescope platforms. You’ll work with a multidisciplinary team of electrical, mechanical, optical, and software engineers to deliver reliable, fault-tolerant systems for ground-based and potential future space-based deployment.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop flight software for spacecraft and telescope systems, including command, control, and data handling (C&DH).

• Build and maintain software that interfaces directly with hardware components, sensors, and onboard subsystems.

• Architect systems for high reliability, fault tolerance, and long-duration autonomous operation.

• Implement communication protocols for telemetry, command uplink/downlink, and system coordination.

• Collaborate with electrical and hardware teams to ensure seamless integration between software and physical systems.

• Support hardware bring-up, integration, and debugging at the hardware/software boundary.

• Develop and implement fault detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR) mechanisms.

• Support system testing, including simulation, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), and validation activities.

• Participate in and contribute to design reviews (PDR, CDR, etc.) and internal documentation.

• Provide engineering support during integration, testing, and system validation.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent.

• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, embedded systems, or systems-level development.

• Strong programming skills in C/C++ or similar low-level languages.

• Experience developing software for embedded or hardware-integrated systems.

• Understanding of real-time systems, concurrency, and performance optimization.

• Familiarity with communication protocols and networking fundamentals.

• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills.

• Effective communicator and collaborator.

• Demonstrated passion for aerospace, robotics, or complex systems.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing flight software for spacecraft, satellites, or aerospace systems.

• Familiarity with real-time operating systems (RTOS) or embedded Linux environments.

• Understanding of fault-tolerant system design and reliability engineering.

• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing and simulation environments.

• Familiarity with space communication standards (e.g., CCSDS).

• Experience working in fast-paced, early-stage or startup environments.

• Basic scripting or automation (Python, MATLAB) for testing or data analysis.