Founding Embedded Flight Software Engineer

Approach Venture; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Founding-stage equity

Performance-based bonuses

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

Meals during working days and launch活动

Paid time off and holidays

Job summary

Approach Venture in Hawthorne, CA is seeking a Founding Embedded Software Engineer to own the software running on the vehicle, developing real-time flight software and integrating sensors and hardware.

You will work across GNC, avionics, and test engineering to evolve the software stack toward production readiness, with equity and rapid-growth opportunities. This role demands hands-on development on bare-metal/RTOS and close collaboration in an early-stage defense startup environment.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of hands-on embedded software development experience.
• Strong proficiency in C/C++ for embedded systems.
• Experience developing software for microcontrollers, embedded processors, or other resource-constrained compute platforms.
• Experience working in bare-metal, RTOS, or other real-time environments.
• Strong understanding of timing, interrupts, concurrency, memory management, and deterministic software behavior.
• Hands-on experience integrating sensors, actuators, or other hardware into embedded systems.
• Ability to debug across the hardware/software boundary using laboratory tools and onboard telemetry.
• Experience profiling and optimizing performance-critical embedded code.
• Working understanding of control systems, numerical methods, state estimation, or sensor fusion.
• Ability to collaborate closely with algorithm developers and translate mathematical concepts into reliable software.
• Ability to independently own software from initial implementation through hardware integration and flight testing.
• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, or a related technical discipline.
• Ability to work on-site in Hawthorne, California

Responsibilities

• Own and advance embedded software across guidance, navigation, flight control, sensing, and vehicle systems.
• Develop production-quality C/C++ for bare-metal, RTOS, and other resource-constrained embedded environments.
• Translate GNC algorithms and mathematical models into reliable real-time flight software.
• Optimize software for deterministic execution, low latency, memory efficiency, and limited onboard compute.
• Integrate IMUs, GNSS, magnetometers, RF systems, optical sensors, and other vehicle sensors into the flight-software architecture.
• Develop drivers, interfaces, and data pipelines connecting sensors, actuators, avionics, and flight computers.
• Support the development and integration of new sensing and guidance approaches.
• Perform board bring-up, hardware/software integration, and low-level debugging.
• Develop robust telemetry, logging, fault handling, and onboard diagnostic capabilities.
• Profile and optimize performance-critical code under tight compute and power constraints.
• Build tools for software testing, hardware-in-the-loop testing, simulation, and flight-data analysis.
• Support system integration, ground testing, range operations, and flight testing.
• Analyze onboard logs and flight data to identify failures, performance limitations, and opportunities for improvement.
• Work closely with GNC, electrical, mechanical, propulsion, and test engineers to define interfaces and system requirements.
• Help establish the embedded software architecture, development standards, and technical practices that future engineers will build upon

Skills

Embedded software

C/C++

Bare-metal/RTOS

Sensor integration

Hardware debugging

GNC integration

State estimation

Team collaboration

Independent ownership

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, or related technical discipline

Tools

PX4

ArduPilot

Betaflight

Job description

Approach Venture in Hawthorne, CA is seeking a Founding Embedded Software Engineer to own the software running on the vehicle, developing real-time flight software and integrating sensors and hardware.

You will work across GNC, avionics, and test engineering to evolve the software stack toward production readiness, with equity and rapid-growth opportunities. This role demands hands-on development on bare-metal/RTOS and close collaboration in an early-stage defense startup environment.