Senior Firmware Architect - Spacecraft & Avionics

Firefly Aerospace; Cedar Park (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

generous health

dental and vision plans with low plan 

parental leave

relocation benefits

educational reimbursement

short term disability

flexible PTO options

Job summary

Firefly Aerospace in Texas seeks a Principal Firmware Engineer to shape the firmware powering our launch vehicles, spacecraft, and ground systems. You’ll own complex firmware architectures, drive technical decisions across programs, and mentor engineers while hands-on with design, implementation, and debugging.

The role requires deep embedded firmware expertise, system-level thinking, and the ability to influence hardware, software, and systems teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in CS/EE/CE/AE or related field.
• 10+ years of embedded firmware or software development experience.
• Strong proficiency in C (and preferably C++) on bare-metal, RTOS, and/or embedded Linux targets.
• Deep experience with microcontrollers, ARM architectures, and low-level hardware interfaces (SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, Ethernet).
• Hands-on lab experience bringing up and debugging firmware on embedded hardware.
• Ability to architect complex firmware systems and mentor other engineers.

Responsibilities

• Define and own firmware architectures for critical avionics systems.
• Design, implement, and debug firmware in C/C++ for embedded targets.
• Provide technical guidance and mentoring to firmware engineers.
• Work with hardware, FPGA, GNC, systems, and software teams to ensure integration of firmware with sensors, actuators, and processors.
• Drive best practices for high-reliability firmware development and flight-worthiness considerations.

Skills

C/C++ proficiency

Embedded firmware development

ARM microcontrollers

Interfaces: SPI I2C UART CAN Ethernet

Technical leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/EE/CE/AE or related field

Master’s degree in related field

Tools

Bootloaders

Board Support Packages

RTOS (FreeRTOS/VxWorks)

Embedded Linux

Job description

Firefly Aerospace in Texas seeks a Principal Firmware Engineer to shape the firmware powering our launch vehicles, spacecraft, and ground systems. You’ll own complex firmware architectures, drive technical decisions across programs, and mentor engineers while hands-on with design, implementation, and debugging.

The role requires deep embedded firmware expertise, system-level thinking, and the ability to influence hardware, software, and systems teams.