Embedded Software Engineer for Spacecraft Systems

Telemetry Today LLC; San Carlos (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 185,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.

Health insurance (medical, dental, and

vision)

401(k) retirement plan

Paid time off

10 paid holidays

Paid parental leave

Relocation assistance

Office lunch

Job summary

Cowboy Space Corporation is seeking an Embedded Software Engineer to own real-time software for spacecraft subsystems, including power distribution and thermal control. You will work across the full lifecycle from bring-up to on-orbit operations.

We expect strong C/C++ skills and experience with RTOS or bare-metal environments, plus comfort with schematics, debugging tools, and hardware/software integration. This role offers high ownership and the chance to impact space systems reliability.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in embedded software or firmware development.
• Strong programming skills in C/C++ for embedded systems.
• Experience with RTOS-based (e.g., FreeRTOS) and/or bare-metal environments.
• Comfort reading schematics and debugging with JTAG, oscilloscopes, and logic analyzers.
• Experience with hardware/software integration and board bring-up.
• Ability to own a subsystem largely independently after ramp-up.

Responsibilities

• Own embedded software for spacecraft subsystems from concept through on-orbit operations.
• Design, develop, and debug real-time embedded software for microcontroller-based avionics boards in FreeRTOS or bare-metal environments.
• Implement low-level drivers, interfaces, and control loops for power, thermal, sensors, and actuators.
• Build and maintain software supporting board bring-up and firmware update mechanisms.
• Integrate with and develop robust command and telemetry infrastructure.
• Work at the software-hardware boundary: read schematics, diagnose firmware/hardware issues.
• Develop fault-tolerant systems with reliability and determinism in constrained environments.
• Support HITL testing and validation.
• Collaborate with electrical, avionics, and software teams to define interfaces.

Skills

Embedded C/C++

RTOS (FreeRTOS)

Hardware debugging

Subsystem ownership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering

Tools

JTAG

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Job description

Cowboy Space Corporation is seeking an Embedded Software Engineer to own real-time software for spacecraft subsystems, including power distribution and thermal control. You will work across the full lifecycle from bring-up to on-orbit operations.

We expect strong C/C++ skills and experience with RTOS or bare-metal environments, plus comfort with schematics, debugging tools, and hardware/software integration. This role offers high ownership and the chance to impact space systems reliability.