Flight Software Engineer

katalyst; Broomfield (CO); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Katalyst in Colorado is seeking engineers to own core flight software subsystems for a space vehicle. You will work on telemetry, command sequencing, fault detection, hardware interfaces, and radios, building robust, memory-safe C++ on a Linux flight computer. Experience with real-time systems and embedded hardware is valued.

Positions span Engineer to Principal level; onsite in Broomfield. You will collaborate across GNC, avionics, and operations, review flight code, and help drive verification

Qualifications

• Experience with real-time or resource-constrained systems.
• Proven ability to design fault-tolerant software for space hardware.
• BS in computer science/engineering or equivalent.
• Strong C++ on embedded platforms and Linux.

Responsibilities

• Own core flight software subsystems end to end.
• Write modern C++ on a Linux flight computer; use Python as needed.
• Take design changes through verification and on-orbit readiness.

Skills

C++

RTOS

embedded Linux

fault-tolerant design

Education

BS in computer science or engineering

Tools

cFS

custom middleware

spacecraft frameworks

Job description

Katalyst Description:

Katalyst is an American technology company focused on d ynamic space operations . We are building a fleet of dual-use multipurpose robotic space vehicles to creat e the future where maneuvering, upgrading, refueling, resupply and exploration are as routine as they are on Earth. Getting to space and overcoming the gravity well is only half the story. What you do there is the future. We are not building the trains. We are building the machines that lay down the tracks. By developing the foundational capabilities that make sustained, responsive operations possible, we enable a new era of space exploration that strengthens national security and ensures freedom of action in an increasingly contested domain.

Katalyst Culture:

Working at Katalyst is intense, hands-on, and deeply rewarding. You'll take real ownership and see your work move from concept to operations in an environment where the problems are hard and the impact is real. We value humility, craftsmanship, and doing things the right way, even when it's harder. You'll work closely with thoughtful, driven teammates who push each other to do their best.

Broomfield, CO. Onsite. Full time. This position may be filled at Engineer, Senior, or Principal level depending on experience. Pick the level where you are strongest, we interview against that bar.

Katalyst builds spacecraft that rendezvous with, capture, and service other spacecraft. Our first vehicle is in orbit right now, flying real proximity operations, and the flight software running it is what you would own: the core platform every subsystem, sensor, and radio on the vehicle talks through. Small team, real hardware, your code flies, and you watch it fly from the console.

What you will do

• Own core flight software subsystems end to end: telemetry and messaging, the command and sequencing path, fault detection and recovery, hardware interfaces (UART, CAN, TCP/IP, RS-422), and the radios that keep us commandable
• Write modern C++ on a Linux flight computer, Python where it moves faster, and keep it memory-safe and thread-safe under schedule pressure, because the schedule belongs to a spacecraft
• Take changes from design through review, flatsat and hardware-in-the-loop verification, deploy, and on-orbit behavior, and close them, verified and handed over, not demoed
• Run point on anomalies: diagnose from telemetry and logs, decide what is safe to command, then fix the class of defect, not the instance
• Make the team stronger: review flight code with rigor, hand systems off with documentation that outlives you, and coach less experienced engineers to shippable instead of rewriting their work
• Defend your design decisions to GNC, avionics, operations, and leadership, with data

What we need

• Deep, hands-on C++ on real-time or resource-constrained systems that had to work, RTOS or embedded Linux
• Fault-tolerant thinking: what happens when this module fails, how the vehicle stays safe and commandable, how it recovers without waiting for the ground
• The habit of finishing: you close what you commit to, you verify before you call it done, and when a date slips we hear it from you first
• The instinct to challenge an assumption, back the challenge with data, and convince people. Engineers here make the call and defend it.

Engineer: 2+ years. Senior: 6+ years. Principal: 10+ years. Years are a guide, not a gate. Spacecraft or launch vehicle experience helps a lot, real-time software on real hardware that had to work is what we actually need, and at Engineer level we care more about how fast you learn than what you have already flown.

BS in computer science, computer engineering, aerospace, electrical engineering, or equivalent proficiency. We mean the "or".

US person (ITAR). No security clearance required, this is commercial servicing.

What this is not

This is not a tooling or DevOps role. We have pipelines and you will touch them, but the code here commands hardware, and the hardest problem you have solved should be one where a physical thing did the wrong thing. If your best work is build infrastructure, we would rather point you at a role that celebrates it than waste your time here.

Nice to have

• cFS, custom middleware, or other spacecraft and robotics frameworks. We fly our own, and we evolve it deliberately: bring strong patterns from somewhere else and you get a real voice in where the architecture goes.
• Radios, CCSDS, or spacecraft comms stacks
• SIL/HIL test infrastructure you built or ran yourself
• Rust, or safety-critical process experience (MISRA, NASA-STD-8739.8)
• Pose estimation, relative navigation, or vision-consumer integration

How we interview

Three conversations and one working session, all of it with us in the room. A short screen, a 45-minute technical conversation, then a 2-hour on-site: a small synthetic codebase seeded with a real class of bug from orbit, your choice of problem track and level, using any tools you normally wo