Firmware Engineer for Space Systems | Equity & Relocation

Socket.dev; 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

Daily office lunch and stocked kitchen

Job summary

Cowboy Space Corp. in San Carlos, CA is seeking an experienced Embedded Firmware Engineer to own firmware for spacecraft subsystems from concept to on-orbit operations.

You will design, develop, and debug firmware for microcontrollers, FPGAs, and custom hardware, implementing real-time control and power management. You will work with electrical, avionics, and software teams to ensure reliability in constrained environments, contribute to HIL testing, and build automated tests.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering or related field.
• 3+ years of firmware or embedded software development.
• Strong programming in C/C++ for embedded systems.
• Experience with microcontrollers and/or FPGAs.
• Familiarity with real-time systems and embedded debugging tools.

Responsibilities

• Own firmware development for spacecraft subsystems from concept through on-orbit operations.
• Design, develop, and debug embedded firmware for microcontrollers, FPGAs, and custom hardware platforms.
• Implement low-level drivers, communication protocols, and real-time control systems.
• Develop firmware for power management, avionics interfaces, sensors, and actuator control.
• Build robust, fault-tolerant systems with reliability and determinism under constrained environments.
• Support board bring-up, hardware integration, and hardware-in-the-loop testing.
• Develop automated test frameworks and validation tools for embedded systems.
• Collaborate with electrical, avionics, and software teams to define interfaces.
• Investigate anomalies, perform root cause analysis, and fix across hardware/software boundaries.
• Contribute to system-level design including fault detection, isolation, and recovery.

Skills

C/C++ programming

Firmware development

Real-time systems

Embedded debugging tools

Hardware/software integration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering or related field

Tools

JTAG

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Job description

Cowboy Space Corp. in San Carlos, CA is seeking an experienced Embedded Firmware Engineer to own firmware for spacecraft subsystems from concept to on-orbit operations.

You will design, develop, and debug firmware for microcontrollers, FPGAs, and custom hardware, implementing real-time control and power management. You will work with electrical, avionics, and software teams to ensure reliability in constrained environments, contribute to HIL testing, and build automated tests.