Principal Software Engineer

Cantos Ventures; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 175,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Medical, vision & dental

401(k) retirement plan

Job summary

Heaviside Industries in Los Angeles, CA, is seeking a senior software engineer to own major weapon-system software subsystems and develop safety-critical embedded software on RTOS and embedded Linux. The role requires extensive flight/defense experience and SIL/HIL test infrastructure.

You will mentor peers and support live-fire test events. Anticipated base salary range is $175,000–$260,000 with stock options and comprehensive benefits; ITAR compliance and U.S.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional software engineering in defense/aerospace.
• Expert-level C/C++ on flight platforms.
• Proficiency in Python for tooling and analysis.
• Ownership of flight or autonomy software on deployed hardware.
• Experience with RTOS and embedded Linux.
• Experience building SIL/HIL test infrastructure.
• Knowledge of MIL-STD-882 and DO-178C practices a plus.
• U.S. Person per ITAR requirements.

Responsibilities

• Own major weapon-system software subsystems end-to-end.
• Develop safety-critical embedded software on RTOS/Embedded Linux.
• Build SIL/HIL/verification environments for flight software.
• Establish software engineering practices: CI/CD, code reviews, testing.
• Mentor engineers and set the technical bar for design quality.
• Support field and flight test events at military ranges.

Skills

C/C++

Python

Flight software ownership

RTOS

Embedded Linux

Software architecture

Tools

RTOS: FreeRTOS/VxWorks

Device drivers

SIL/HIL tooling

Job description

ABOUT HEAVISIDE INDUSTRIES

Heaviside Industries builds multi-domain autonomous precision munitions for U.S. and allied special operations and conventional forces. While modern warfare has rapidly evolved with the proliferation of unmanned systems, hyper-precise munitions in contested environments are the future of the battlefield. Economical precision strike capabilities are critical to U.S. and allied war efforts, enabling successful defeat of enemy military assets and infrastructure. Heaviside builds precision munitions designed to operate in GPS-denied and spectrum-jammed battlefields—where traditional systems degrade or fail—without inflated prices or sacrifice to performance.

All engineering and manufacturing is conducted in-house in Heaviside's Los Angeles, CA headquarters and Oslo, Norway office.

Heaviside is backed by Felicis, Hedosophia, Interlagos, Friends & Family Capital, Menlo Ventures, Flume Ventures, Cantos, and others.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Own major weapon-system software subsystems end-to-end: architecture, implementation, test, integration on flight hardware, and support through live-fire test.


• Develop safety-critical embedded software in C/C++ on RTOS and embedded Linux platforms, interfacing directly with IMUs, seekers, actuators, and RF payloads.


• Build and maintain simulation, software-in-the-loop, and hardware-in-the-loop environments that keep flight software verifiable at high iteration speed.


• Establish software engineering practices — CI/CD, code review, static analysis, testing standards — appropriate for weapon-system software and MIL-STD-882 system safety.


• Mentor engineers across the software team and set the technical bar for design quality and code health.


• Support field and flight test events at military ranges, including rapid diagnosis and resolution of issues discovered in test.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, with significant time on embedded, real-time, or safety-critical defense/aerospace systems.


• Expert-level C/C++ on resource-constrained flight platforms; strong working proficiency in Python for tooling and analysis.


• Demonstrated ownership of flight software or autonomy software that flew on fielded military or aerospace hardware.


• Deep experience with RTOS (e.g., FreeRTOS, VxWorks) and/or embedded Linux, device drivers, and low-level hardware interfaces.


• Experience building SIL/HIL test infrastructure and using it to qualify software for flight.


• Strong grasp of software architecture for fault tolerance, determinism, and state management in autonomous weapon or air systems.


• [BONUS] Experience with UAS, munitions, or missile flight software and associated practices (DO-178C-informed development, MIL-STD-882 system safety).


• [BONUS] Experience with autonomy stacks: guidance integration, terminal seeker processing, or target tracking software.


• U.S. Person as defined by ITAR (22 CFR §120.62)

Additional Information:

The anticipated annual base salary range for this role is $175,000 – $260,000.

Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Heaviside is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Heaviside is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, physical disability or any other legally protected status.