Founding Flight Software Engineer

Founding Flight Software Engineer

Clarson, CA - on-site only (no remote/hybrid)

$160,000–$250,000 + equity + benefits

Aerospace / National Security Space

About the Opportunity

Early-stage aerospace company designing resilient, high-performance spacecraft to safeguard critical orbital assets and ensure freedom of action in space. Integrates advanced autonomy, sensing, and control into systems built for reliability, speed, and scale.

The Role

Own the flight software stack end-to-end — ground-side mission ops tools and vehicle-side embedded software. Work closely with avionics, GNC, and systems engineers to bring the vehicle from concept to flight.

Key Responsibilities

• Build mission operations software — ground tools for real-time mission planning, execution, monitoring
• Develop and integrate flight software for the vehicle, architecture through test and flight readiness
• Develop ground software services for telemetry, commanding, visualization
• Write embedded software for flight computers, sensors, actuators
• Collaborate with avionics, propulsion, GNC teams on software interfaces and data models
• Contribute to flight software CI/CD pipelines, testing frameworks, simulation environments
• Support SIL/HIL testing, environmental testing, flight campaigns

Qualifications

• B.S. in CS, CE, EE, or related technical/physics discipline
• Prior experience with mission ops software, ground software, or telemetry/command systems
• Experience with space systems — rovers, satellites, launch vehicles, or similar
• Familiarity with embedded software for real-time/safety-critical systems (aerospace, robotics, automotive, or similar)
• Exposure to DevOps for embedded systems, automated testing pipelines
• Familiarity with HIL testing, fault tolerance, safety-critical standards
• Comfortable working independently in small, fast-moving teams

Requirements

• On-site Torrance, CA — no remote/hybrid
• U.S. Citizenship required; ability to obtain/hold active TS/SCI clearance