Flight Software Engineer at Darwin Recruitment Los Angeles, CA

Darwin Recruitment; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental and vision benefits

Flexible vacation

401k matching

Holiday pay

Relocation support

Job summary

Darwin Recruitment is seeking a Spacecraft Flight Software Engineer in Los Angeles, onsite with relocation supported. This hands-on role focuses on owning and advancing the flight software architecture for satellite missions, with a small, capable team and opportunities to influence across subsystems.

You will lead development of telemetry, timing, and bus communications while interfacing with FPGAs and GPIOs. Experience with Python, C/C++, embedded Linux, and CI/CD in GitLab is required.

Qualifications

• Degree in computer science, engineering or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience
• Five or more years of core flight software experience in aerospace, hands on with spacecraft code and test
• A track record of leading flight software development on satellites, not just contributing to it
• Python, C and C++, and embedded Linux
• Hardware level protocols such as I2C, CAN, UART and RS485
• Experience interfacing software with FPGAs and GPIOs
• GitLab and CI/CD workflows
• US person, willing and eligible to obtain a DoD Top Secret security clearance. You do not need to hold one already, as sponsorship is available.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain the spacecraft flight software architecture, adding components and protocols for mission specific payloads
• Own core system functions including telemetry collection, precise time stamping, rate group scheduling and bus communications
• Write drivers and logic to interface with FPGAs and GPIOs, and make the volatile versus non volatile memory decisions that protect data integrity
• Develop boot behaviours, partition swapping logic and fail safe recovery modes
• Manage the codebase and CI/CD pipelines in GitLab
• Run test campaigns on flatsat testbeds and flight units
• Provide technical direction to other engineers and work across teams to integrate subsystems with the main compute element

Skills

Flight software leadership

Embedded systems

Aerospace experience

Python

C/C++

GitLab CI/CD

DoD security clearance readiness

Education

Degree in computer science or engineering

Tools

Python

C

C++

Embedded Linux

I2C

CAN

UART

RS485

FPGAs

GPIOs

GitLab

CI/CD workflows

Job description

Spacecraft Flight Software Engineer Los Angeles, California | Full time, onsite | Relocation supported

We are working with a spacecraft technology company in Los Angeles that designs and builds custom satellites for government and prime contractor customers. Small engineering team, funded, with hardware already flying. This is a hands on ownership role, not a supervisory one.

The role

• Build and maintain the spacecraft flight software architecture, adding components and protocols for mission specific payloads
• Own core system functions including telemetry collection, precise time stamping, rate group scheduling and bus communications
• Write drivers and logic to interface with FPGAs and GPIOs, and make the volatile versus non volatile memory decisions that protect data integrity
• Develop boot behaviours, partition swapping logic and fail safe recovery modes
• Manage the codebase and CI/CD pipelines in GitLab
• Run test campaigns on flatsat testbeds and flight units
• Provide technical direction to other engineers and work across teams to integrate subsystems with the main compute element

What you need

• Degree in computer science, engineering or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience
• Five or more years of core flight software experience in aerospace, hands on with spacecraft code and test
• A track record of leading flight software development on satellites, not just contributing to it
• Python, C and C++, and embedded Linux
• Hardware level protocols such as I2C, CAN, UART and RS485
• Experience interfacing software with FPGAs and GPIOs
• GitLab and CI/CD workflows
• US person, willing and eligible to obtain a DoD Top Secret security clearance. You do not need to hold one already, as sponsorship is available.

Nice to have

• FPrime or cFS
• Memory management, file systems and bootloader development
• Clean room and ESD experience
• Advanced degree in a relevant field

What is on offer

• Medical, dental and vision paid by the company for the employee
• Flexible vacation
• 401k matching
• Holiday pay
• Pregnancy, family and military service leave
• Interview travel and relocation are covered
• Full ownership of the flight software in a team small enough that your work is visible at company level, with a fast, decisive interview process.