Senior Satellite Simulation & Test Software Engineer

Jobtailor; California (MO); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor is seeking a senior software engineer to design, implement, and verify simulation environments for spacecraft flight software. You will lead cross-disciplinary efforts with hardware, systems, and autonomy engineers to ensure deterministic, repeatable simulations across platforms.

The role requires 10+ years in spacecraft or embedded software, strong C/C++, Python, and C++ programming, plus experience with test frameworks and IPC.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related technical field.
• 10+ years of experience in spacecraft software, simulation software, or embedded software development.
• Proven experience with architecture and development of simulation environments for flight or embedded systems.
• Demonstrated ability to lead the technical architecture of a complex software system.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and implement simulation software for testing and verifying TeraWave's flight software.
• Collaborate with test team leads to develop a simulation environment deployable on multiple platforms for software-only, HWIL, real-time and spacecraft AI&T tests.
• Collaborate with hardware, systems, and autonomy engineers to understand software requirements, interfaces, and boundaries across subsystems.
• Develop and integrate simulation environments and models to test flight software across nominal and off-nominal scenarios.
• Participate in software integration, verification, and validation including SIL and HIL environments.
• Background support of on-orbit operations and troubleshooting of deployed spacecraft.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to team technical development.

Skills

C

C++

Python

OOP

Unit testing

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/SE/Aerospace

Tools

Google Test

IPC sockets

Git

CI/CD

Docker

Job description

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and implement simulation software for testing and verifying TeraWave's flight software.
• Collaboration with test team leads to develop a simulation environment that can be deployed on multiple platforms to support software-only test, HWIL test, real-time environment tests, and spacecraft AI&T.
• Collaborate with hardware, systems, and autonomy engineers to understand software requirements, interfaces, and behavioral boundaries across subsystems.
• Develop and integrate simulation environments and models to test FSW across a range of nominal and off-nominal operational scenarios.
• Participate in software integration, verification, and validation testing including software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) environments.
• Background support of on-orbit operations and troubleshooting of deployed spacecraft.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to team technical development.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related technical field
• 10+ years of experience in spacecraft software, simulation software, or embedded software development
• Proven experience with architecture and development of simulation environments for flight or embedded systems
• Demonstrated ability to lead the technical architecture of a complex software system
• Understanding of deterministic lockstep simulation design coupling algorithms with representative models, with consideration of synchronization and repeatability
• Some knowledge of GN&C sensor and actuator suite modeling (e.g. IMU, star tracker, magnetometer, reaction wheel assembly, magnetic torque rods)
• Strong programming skills in C, C++, and Python
• Solid understanding of Object-Oriented problem solving and software layering to facilitate modularity and reuse
• Experience with software unit testing frameworks such as Google Test or equivalent for embedded C/C++ environments
• Experience with inter-process communication (IPC) mechanisms including sockets, shared memory, message queues, or publish-subscribe middleware
• Experience with software lifecycle, configuration management (Git), CI/CD, and containerized environments
• Experience with verification/validation practices for mission-critical embedded software systems
• Understanding of flight software/hardware interfaces including discrete I/O, TCP/IP, UDP, CAN, I2C, SPI, and RS-422/485
• Familiarity with static analysis tools and flight software coding standards such as MISRA C/C+
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.