Embedded Software Engineer — Spacecraft Systems (RTOS)

Cowboy Space Corporation; San Carlos (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 185,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) retirement savings plan

Paid time off

10 paid holidays per year

Paid parental leave

Relocation assistance if applicable

Daily lunch in the office

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 join a small embedded team spanning board bring-up, driver and application development, hardware/software debugging, and firmware updates for hardware in the field and on orbit.

This high-ownership role requires working across the full lifecycle, with responsibility after ramp-up for a meaningful software stack component.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of embedded software or firmware experience.
• Proficient in C/C++ for embedded systems.
• Experience with RTOS (FreeRTOS) or bare-metal.
• Ability to read schematics and use debugging tools.
• Experience with hardware/software integration and board bring-up.

Responsibilities

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

Skills

C/C++ for embedded systems

RTOS (FreeRTOS)

Hardware debugging

Board bring-up

JTAG debugging

Python scripting

Real-time control loops

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, CS

Tools

JTAG

Oscilloscope

Logic Analyzer

SPI

I2C

CAN

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 join a small embedded team spanning board bring-up, driver and application development, hardware/software debugging, and firmware updates for hardware in the field and on orbit.

This high-ownership role requires working across the full lifecycle, with responsibility after ramp-up for a meaningful software stack component.