Embedded Firmware Engineer for Spaceflight Hardware

Cosmic Frontier Labs; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental and vision coverage

HSA/FSA available

401(k)

Work-from-home stipend

Commuter benefits

Wellness programs

One Medical

Job summary

Cosmic Frontier Labs is seeking a firmware engineer to build the embedded layer that makes the telescope behave, bridging sensors, actuators, timing, and flight software. You will own hardware bring up, develop low-level drivers, and ensure robust telemetry and fault handling in a real-time environment.

In this startup-like aerospace setting, you will build firmware with deterministic timing, contribute to HIL infrastructure, and help define interfaces for flight software integration.

Qualifications

• Strong education background in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field with significant experience developing embedded firmware for real time systems.
• Proficiency in C or C++ for microcontrollers with experience writing low level drivers and hardware interfacing.
• Experience with board bring up and debugging using lab equipment; solving hardware-firmware integration issues.
• Proven ability to design deterministic, fault tolerant firmware with clear telemetry, error handling, and interface definitions.

Responsibilities

• Write and maintain firmware for embedded controllers interfacing with sensors and mechanisms with deterministic timing and robust fault handling.
• Own hardware bring up, drivers, and communications interfaces between embedded controllers and higher level compute.
• Build test hooks and HIL infrastructure for continuous firmware validation, not just end-stage testing.

Skills

C/C++ for microcontrollers

Real-time embedded systems

Hardware bring up and debugging

Deterministic fault-tolerant firmware

Education

Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering

Tools

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Lab equipment

Job description

Cosmic Frontier Labs is seeking a firmware engineer to build the embedded layer that makes the telescope behave, bridging sensors, actuators, timing, and flight software. You will own hardware bring up, develop low-level drivers, and ensure robust telemetry and fault handling in a real-time environment.

In this startup-like aerospace setting, you will build firmware with deterministic timing, contribute to HIL infrastructure, and help define interfaces for flight software integration.