Flight Software Engineer – Embedded & Space Communications

Approach Venture; Golden (CO); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Medical, dental, vision

Paid parental leave

Three weeks vacation

10+ holidays annually

Life insurance

Disability insurance

Job summary

Approach Venture seeks a Flight Software Engineer to build the core flight software, embedded platform, and communications infrastructure for distributed spacecraft systems. The role covers embedded Linux, real-time software, networking, and hardware integration in a hands-on environment near hardware.

You’ll work across software, avionics, RF, controls, and hardware with ownership over critical flight software components and CI/CD pipelines. On-site in Golden, CO with equity and benefits.

Qualifications

• Degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, or equivalent technical experience.
• 5+ years of relevant experience for senior-level consideration.
• Strong proficiency with C++ and/or C.
• Working knowledge of Python.
• Experience developing and debugging embedded Linux systems.
• Familiarity with device drivers and low-level hardware interfaces.
• Experience with networking fundamentals including IP, routing, and multicast.
• Experience diagnosing network behavior using tools such as Wireshark.
• Experience with messaging or publish/subscribe middleware.
• Experience working with serialized data, interface definitions, or message schemas.
• Comfortable debugging complex issues across software and hardware.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain the core flight software platform used across spacecraft systems.
• Build embedded software frameworks and interfaces that connect vehicle subsystems.
• Develop hardware abstraction layers to support multiple compute and avionics configurations.
• Configure and maintain embedded and real-time Linux environments.
• Develop low-level firmware for sensors, actuators, and spacecraft hardware.
• Interface with hardware using UART, SPI, I2C, and other embedded protocols.
• Build deterministic and real-time software for hardware control.
• Own portions of the spacecraft communication and networking stack.
• Develop publish/subscribe messaging infrastructure and associated message schemas.
• Configure communication reliability and QoS behavior.
• Implement IP networking, routing, multicast, addressing, and time synchronization.
• Support communication between distributed vehicles and ground systems.
• Develop software interfaces supporting RF and onboard communication hardware.
• Build and improve software testing, CI, provisioning, and deployment infrastructure.
• Integrate new compute boards and avionics hardware into the flight software environment.
• Troubleshoot issues spanning software, networking, RF, and hardware.
• Partner closely with avionics, controls, systems, and hardware engineers through integration and flight testing

Skills

C/C++

Python

Embedded Linux

Networking

DDS

RTOS

CI/CD

Linux debugging

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Yocto

Buildroot

Git

Wireshark

DDS (Fast DDS / Connext / Cyclone DDS)

STM32

Job description

Approach Venture seeks a Flight Software Engineer to build the core flight software, embedded platform, and communications infrastructure for distributed spacecraft systems. The role covers embedded Linux, real-time software, networking, and hardware integration in a hands-on environment near hardware.

You’ll work across software, avionics, RF, controls, and hardware with ownership over critical flight software components and CI/CD pipelines. On-site in Golden, CO with equity and benefits.