Senior Flight Software Engineer: Hypersonic Reentry Autonomy

Inversion Space Company; California; On-site; USD 139,000 - 201,000; Full time

Job summary

Inversion in Los Angeles/Playa Vista is seeking a Senior Flight Software Engineer to design, implement, and verify core flight software for the Arc hypersonic reentry vehicle. You will own safety-critical modules from state machines to fault-management in a Linux environment.

You will integrate GNC software, run SIL/HIL tests, and mentor junior engineers while collaborating with avionics teams. This role requires in-office presence and a U.S. security clearance eligibility.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent technical experience.
• Typically 5+ years of professional experience developing embedded, real-time, or safety-critical software.
• Strong proficiency in C/C++/Rust in a Linux-based development environment.
• Solid understanding of embedded Linux, deterministic software design, memory management, and multi-threaded architectures.
• Hands-on experience interfacing with hardware via CAN, Ethernet, SPI, I2C, or RS-422.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with experience presenting technical software designs.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. government Secret/Top Secret clearance.

Responsibilities

• Develop, test, and deploy high-reliability, real-time flight software.
• Design safety-critical state machines, autonomous flight sequencing, and FDIR algorithms.
• Integrate GNC flight software into the main C++ loop.
• Perform low-level driver development and hardware bring-up.
• Lead SIL and HIL test suites to validate software performance.
• Mentor junior embedded software developers and participate in code reviews.
• Collaborate with systems engineers to define ICDs, telemetry packets, and CAN/Ethernet/Serial protocols.

Skills

C/C++/Rust

Embedded real-time

Linux

CAN / Ethernet / SPI / I2C / RS-422

GNC software

Code reviews & mentoring

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/CE/Aerospace or equivalent

Tools

Git

CI/CD pipelines

Unit testing frameworks

Static analysis

Job description

Inversion in Los Angeles/Playa Vista is seeking a Senior Flight Software Engineer to design, implement, and verify core flight software for the Arc hypersonic reentry vehicle. You will own safety-critical modules from state machines to fault-management in a Linux environment.

You will integrate GNC software, run SIL/HIL tests, and mentor junior engineers while collaborating with avionics teams. This role requires in-office presence and a U.S. security clearance eligibility.