Senior Flight Software Engineer — Spacecraft (Rust)

Cowboy Space; San Carlos, Kent (CA, WA); On-site; CAD 279,000 - 349,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) retirement savings plan

Paid time off

10 paid holidays per calendar year

Paid parental leave

Relocation assistance

Daily lunch in the office

Job summary

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a Senior Flight Software Engineer to own the payload software for our spacecraft, focusing on attitude/pointing state machines, command handling, telemetry, and data storage. You will unify architecture and drive the team toward a near-term on-orbit demonstration.

The role requires senior technical leadership, strong Rust experience, and collaboration with GNC, avionics, and systems teams to ensure flight-quality software across environments.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience developing flight software or similar safety-critical systems.
• Experience with software flown on orbit or equivalent deployment.
• Strong systems programming in Rust, C, or C++, with focus on Rust.

Responsibilities

• Serve as technical lead and owner for payload flight software from architecture to on-orbit operations.
• Design, develop, and test Rust-based flight software for attitude and pointing, telemetry, and storage.
• Define architecture, patterns, and conventions for the flight software team.
• Establish and uphold determinism, fault tolerance, testability, and safe behavior.

Skills

Rust

C/C++

Real-time systems

Embedded systems

State machines

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/CE/Aerospace

Job description

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a Senior Flight Software Engineer to own the payload software for our spacecraft, focusing on attitude/pointing state machines, command handling, telemetry, and data storage. You will unify architecture and drive the team toward a near-term on-orbit demonstration.

The role requires senior technical leadership, strong Rust experience, and collaboration with GNC, avionics, and systems teams to ensure flight-quality software across environments.