Senior PX4 Developer Software

Front Door Defense; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Rainmaker is looking for a Senior PX4 Developer in El Segundo, California. You will lead the development of PX4-based drone autonomy software involving firmware and simulation. Ideal candidates should have over 3 years of experience with PX4/ArduPilot systems and proficiency in Rust and C++ or Python. The company offers a salary range of $150,000 to $200,000 annually. This position offers an opportunity to work on innovative drone technologies in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional experience developing software for PX4/ArduPilot systems.
• Experience shipping production code in Rust, plus C++ or Python.
• Comfort with low-level peripheral buses: CAN, UART, I2C, SPI.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of PX4-based drone autonomy software across firmware, simulation, and testing.
• Contribute to our drone autonomy software stack end-to-end as a domain expert.
• Modify and extend PX4 firmware for custom use cases and flight behaviors.

Skills

Software development

Drone autonomy

Firmware development

Low-level peripheral buses

Rust

C++ or Python

Tools

ESP32

RP2040

Gazebo

Job description

Senior PX4 Developer

Lead development of PX4-based drone autonomy software across firmware, simulation, and testing

Location: El Segundo, California, United States

Compensation: $150,000 - 200,000 USD / year

Job Tags: Software

About The Role

Rainmaker Software Engineer

Rainmaker builds systems to make it rain. Our autonomous drone fleets and weather modification platform operate worldwide: expanding freshwater supplies, protecting agriculture, and proving that cloud seeding works at scale.

You Are:

• A seasoned software engineer with a background in drone autonomy
• Fast, thoughtful, autonomous, and opinionated
• Willing to relocate to El Segundo, California

What You'll Work On:

• Contribute to our drone autonomy software stack end-to-end as a domain expert
• Modify and extend PX4 firmware for custom use cases and flight behaviors
• Develop firmware for embedded systems across power, peripherals, and sensing
• Support simulation-based testing in Gazebo, HITL, and SITL environments
• Assist with flight test support, log analysis, and software debugging

What We're Looking For:

• 3+ years of professional experience developing software for PX4/ArduPilot systems
• Experience shipping production code in Rust, plus C++ or Python
• Experience developing firmware for ESP32, RP2040, or similar embedded targets
• Comfort with low-level peripheral buses: CAN, UART, I2C, SPI
• Experience with real-time pub/sub middleware (Zenoh, DDS, ROS 2, MQTT, or similar)
• Working knowledge of MAVLink and typical autopilot integration patterns

Rainmaker is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Rainmaker is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

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