Head of Flight Software — Lead Autonomous Spacecraft Systems

Fortastra; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited PTO

Healthcare

Equity

401(k)

Team building

Job summary

Fortastra designs and delivers resilient, high-performance spacecraft that safeguard critical orbital assets and ensure freedom of action in space. We are building the flight software stack, from ground mission operations to embedded software on vehicle computers, with a small, fast-moving team.

The Head of Flight Software Engineer will own end-to-end development, integration, testing, and flight readiness, collaborating with avionics, GNC, and systems engineers to bring concepts to flight.

Qualifications

• B.S. in CS/CE/EE or related science/physics.
• Experience with systems and mission operations software.
• Experience with space systems (rovers, satellites, launch vehicles).
• Embedded real-time software development experience in safety-critical contexts.

Responsibilities

• Build and integrate mission operations software for real-time use.
• Develop and validate flight software for vehicle computers and sensors.
• Create ground services for telemetry, commanding, and visualization.
• Collaborate with avionics, propulsion, and GNC to define interfaces.
• Contribute to CI/CD, testing frameworks, and simulation environments.
• Support software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop testing and flight campaigns.

Skills

Systems & mission ops software

Ground telemetry systems

Space systems experience

Embedded real-time software

DevOps for embedded systems

Hardware-in-the-loop

Cloud-based ground systems

Independent work in small teams

Security clearance (TS/SCI)

Education

B.S. in CS/CE/EE

Job description

Fortastra designs and delivers resilient, high-performance spacecraft that safeguard critical orbital assets and ensure freedom of action in space. We are building the flight software stack, from ground mission operations to embedded software on vehicle computers, with a small, fast-moving team.

The Head of Flight Software Engineer will own end-to-end development, integration, testing, and flight readiness, collaborating with avionics, GNC, and systems engineers to bring concepts to flight.