Senior Embedded Software Engineer, Linux

Relativity; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 154,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and equity

Generous PTO and sick leave

Parental leave

Learning and development stipend

Job summary

Relativity Space seeks an Embedded Linux Software Engineer to design, test, and document firmware for avionics boxes across Terran R vehicles. You will develop embedded Linux software for network switches and camera platforms, building production-grade services that run on embedded SoCs.

Collaborate with hardware, systems, and platform teams to bring up new hardware, debug across the full stack, and contribute to performance, reliability, and flight success.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of software development for embedded systems.
• Strong C/C++ programming skills and embedded Linux experience.
• Experience debugging with gdb, strace, perf, tcpdump, etc.
• Familiarity with Linux networking and system programming.

Responsibilities

• Develop, test, and document firmware for avionics boxes.
• Create embedded Linux apps for network and camera platforms.
• Lead system bring-up and platform integration with hardware teams.
• Debug across the stack from hardware to drivers and applications.

Skills

C/C++

Embedded Linux

Networking

Debugging

Cross-compile

Build systems

HW/SW integration

Job description

At Relativity Space, we're building rockets to serve today's needs and tomorrow's breakthroughs. Our Terran R vehicle will deliver customer payloads to orbit, meeting the growing demand for launch capacity. But that's just the start. Achieving commercial success with Terran R will unlock new opportunities to advance science, exploration, and innovation, pioneering progress that reaches beyond the known.

Joining Relativity means becoming part of something where autonomy, ownership, and impact exist at every level. Here, you're not just executing tasks; you're solving problems that haven't been solved before, helping develop a rocket, a factory, and a business from the ground up. Whether you're in propulsion, manufacturing, software, avionics, or a corporate function, you'll collaborate across teams, shape decisions, and see your work come to life in record time. Relativity is a place where creativity and technical rigor go hand in hand, and your voice will help define the stories we're writing together. Now is a unique moment in time where it's early enough to leave your mark on the product, the process, and the culture, but far enough along that Terran R is tangible and picking up momentum. The most meaningful work of your career is waiting. Join us.

About the Team:

The Vehicle Software team develops the safety-critical software that runs on Terran R. The work spans a distributed, real-time control system operating under extreme conditions like Mach 5 atmospheric flight, with a deployment pace that allows you to see your code run on rocket engines daily. The team is building new system architecture from the ground up and just as importantly, testing, releasing, and deploying it. You don't need an aerospace background: what matters is experience with high-reliability software for complex systems. This is a rare opportunity to shape the foundation of Terran R's software stack while directly influencing performance, reliability, and flight success.

About the Role:

As an Embedded Linux Software Engineer you will be a key member of our embedded software team responsible for developing, testing, and documenting firmware that gets deployed to all avionics boxes throughout our rocket vehicles. In this role, you'll develop embedded Linux software for network switch and camera platforms, creating production-grade applications and system services that power real-world devices deployed at scale. You'll focus on the integration of networking, video, and hardware interfaces, implementing software that interacts directly with hardware peripherals, networking subsystems, and video pipelines running on embedded SoCs. Working closely with hardware, systems, and platform teams, you'll lead system bring-up and platform integration efforts for new hardware, debug complex issues across the full stack from hardware and kernel to drivers and application layers and participate in validation and performance tuning. This position offers the opportunity to contribute to software architecture improvements, maintain high-performance and reliable code, and support critical testing and troubleshooting activities in both lab and field environments as we build aerospace technology that flies.

About You:

• 5+ years of experience developing software for embedded systems
• Strong programming skills in C/C++
• Experience developing applications on embedded Linux platforms
• Experience debugging using tools such as gdb, strace, perf, tcpdump, etc.
• Familiarity with Linux networking and system programming
• Experience working with cross-compiled systems and build systems
• Strong debugging skills across hardware and software boundaries

Nice to haves but not required:

• Experience with camera pipelines, video processing, or multimedia frameworks
• Experience with network switching, routing, or networking protocols
• Familiarity with low-level embedded development (MCU, RTOS, or bare-metal)
• Experience with hardware bring-up and board support package
• Experience with Yocto or similar Linux build systems
• Experience developing or modifying Linux device drivers
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and automated testing for embedded systems

At Relativity Space, we are committed to transparency and fairness in our compensation practices. Actual compensation will be determined based on experience, qualifications, and other job-related factors.

Compensation is only one part of our total rewards package. Relativity Space offers competitive salary and equity, a generous PTO and sick leave policy, parental leave, an annual learning and development stipend, and more! To see some of the benefits & perks we offer, please visit here.

Hiring Range: $154,000 - $230,000 USD

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

If you need a reasonable accommodation, please contact us