Senior Principal Software Engineer, TS/SCI — Space Systems

Rocket Lab; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 198,000 - 297,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Top tier medical HMO

401(k) retirement plan with company

Disability insurance

Paid parental leave

Onsite gym

Food and drinks

Job summary

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA, seeks a Senior Principal Software Engineer – TS/SCI to lead design, development and delivery of mission‑critical software for space systems. You will own end‑to‑end software architecture for flight and ground systems, and mentor engineers across teams.

You’ll develop flight software for RTOS or embedded Linux, build ground software platforms, and collaborate with stakeholders to ensure mission success. Active TS/SCI clearance and US citizenship are required.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of professional software development experience, including embedded systems and ground software.
• Proven expertise in architecting scalable, reliable software for aerospace or defense applications.
• Proficiency in C and C++ for embedded software development and python for testing.
• Experience with DIO and AIO (Digital and Analog I/O) and hardware integration.
• Experience deriving Flight Software architecture from electrical design and reading ICDs/schematics.
• Experience with RF ground to space communication.
• U.S. citizenship is required, and an active TS/SCI clearance is required.

Responsibilities

• Lead Software Architecture Design for flight and ground systems ensuring scalability, reliability, and security.
• Develop Flight Software for RTOS (VxWorks) or embedded Linux with drivers for sensors/actuators.
• Build Ground Software Platforms to support spacecraft operations and mission profiles.
• Create unit tests within CI and collaborate with hardware-in-the-loop test teams.
• Provide technical direction and mentorship to engineering teams; align software with mission requirements.
• Support on-orbit operations and mission-critical software performance in harsh environments.

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

VxWorks

Embedded Linux

CAN/CAN-FD

SpaceWire

CI/CD

Kubernetes

Job description

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA, seeks a Senior Principal Software Engineer – TS/SCI to lead design, development and delivery of mission‑critical software for space systems. You will own end‑to‑end software architecture for flight and ground systems, and mentor engineers across teams.

You’ll develop flight software for RTOS or embedded Linux, build ground software platforms, and collaborate with stakeholders to ensure mission success. Active TS/SCI clearance and US citizenship are required.