Senior Flight Software Engineer for CubeSats & Spacecraft

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; California; On-site; USD 145,000 - 176,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Paid time off

Flexible schedule

Retirement plans

Job summary

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA, seeks a Flight Software Engineer III to deliver embedded flight software for CubeSats and spacecraft payloads. You will lead requirements, design, coding, reviews, and testing with opportunities to work on simulations and real hardware.

You will collaborate with the Flight Software & Systems Engineering Section, applying RTOS experience, IPC knowledge, and diverse programming skills to ensure mission success.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience delivering real-time embedded software for mission-critical aerospace systems.
• Experience with embedded flight processors and domains (CDH, GNC, System Fault Protection).
• Proficiency in C/C++, Python, Linux; strong debugging and documentation skills.
• Familiar with RTOSs such as FreeRTOS, RTEMS, Zephyr, VxWorks.
• Experience with IPC, and buses/protocols: PCI/PCIe, UART, SPI, I2C, CAN, SpaceWire.
• Ability to work in a collaborative team and communicate clearly.

Responsibilities

• Develop, update, and maintain embedded flight software for CubeSats and spacecraft payloads.
• Lead software requirements, design, coding, reviews, and testing activities.
• Perform simulations and hardware-in-the-loop testing; resolve defects.
• Work under Cognizant Engineer guidance to define software approaches.
• Support peer reviews and formal testing of capabilities.

Skills

Real-time embedded

Embedded flight software

C/C++ programming

Python

Linux

IPC mechanisms

UDP/TCP

RTOS knowledge

Static analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related

Master’s degree in similar disciplines

PhD in similar disciplines

Tools

Static analysis tools

HIL testing

Job description

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA, seeks a Flight Software Engineer III to deliver embedded flight software for CubeSats and spacecraft payloads. You will lead requirements, design, coding, reviews, and testing with opportunities to work on simulations and real hardware.

You will collaborate with the Flight Software & Systems Engineering Section, applying RTOS experience, IPC knowledge, and diverse programming skills to ensure mission success.