Software Integration & Test Engineer (Contract)

Rocket Lab; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Astrobotic seeks a Software Integration and Test Engineer to join their team in Pittsburgh, contributing to lunar missions and spacecraft systems validation. Applicants should possess a technical degree and extensive experience in software testing and development, particularly in a collaborative and fast-paced environment. This contract position offers the chance to engage in groundbreaking space exploration technologies.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of relevant work experience required.
• Ability to build and test distributed software/hardware systems.
• Experience leading anomaly investigations with multiple experts.

Responsibilities

• Design test plans for validating spacecraft software and hardware.
• Develop infrastructure for verifying spacecraft systems across platforms.
• Execute manual tests for spacecraft hardware and report regressions.

Skills

Object-Oriented Programming

Python

Software Testing

Education

Bachelor's or Graduate Degree in a Technical Field

Tools

Git

Docker

Linux

QEMU

Job description

Astrobotic is at the forefront of advancing space exploration and technology development. Our expertise spans from lunar rovers, landers, and infrastructure to spacecraft navigation, machine vision, and computing systems for in-space robotic applications. To date, the company has been contracted for two lunar missions, and has won more than 60 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Department of Defense (DoD), and commercial technology contracts worth more than $600 million.

We recently launched and operated the first American lunar lander mission since the Apollo Program. Beyond helping lead America back to the Moon, Astrobotic developed and operates reusable vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) rockets and continues to advance next-generation VTVL capabilities and advanced rocket engines. Established in 2007, Astrobotic is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, with a propulsion and test campus in Mojave, CA.

Astrobotic is looking for a Software Integration and Test Engineer to help with the planning and execution of the software integration and test program for our lunar landers. Candidates should be effective self-starters who are detail-oriented and can work in a fast-paced, collaborative environment. As part of Astrobotic's Software & Controls Team, you will literally be creating history as we define the benchmark for commercial delivery of payloads to the Moon and beyond.

This is a contract position that is expected to last 6-9 months.

Job Responsibilities:

• Design test plans and test procedures to validate and verify spacecraft software and hardware, including rocket engines, inertial measurement units, star trackers, radar systems, sun sensors, thermal controllers, lidar, and guidance, navigation and control algorithms designed to autonomously navigate a spacecraft to the moon and land on it
• Develop software testing infrastructure and tests within it that facilitate easily verifying that spacecraft systems function the same across platforms with varying combinations of simulators and actual spacecraft hardware
• Improve the capabilities of software testing infrastructure to support both developer and automated testing needs, enabling tighter integration between developers and testers
• Execute test procedures manually in cases where multi-million dollar spacecraft hardware is involved, and report regressions. Ideally develop the automated system so that manual testing follows automated testing closely
• Expand tests that run autonomously on a nightly basis against a continuous integration pipeline across different hardware platforms, for greater test coverage across more systems
• Write bug tickets when software issues are incurred as part of our verification process
• Develop automatic reporting tools and mechanisms to improve understanding of how failed and passed tests map to subsystem-level requirements
• Benchmark and analyze spacecraft system performance across all flight modes
• Help identify and resolve anomalous software behavior
• Work with a small team of developers, engineers and technicians to proactively solve problems found through testing the spacecraft software system
• Manage and schedule test regressions and test resources
• Manage test software repositories for multiple projects
• Perform acceptance tests and trace tested features back to requirements
• Collect, analyze and present test metrics

Required Skills & Qualifications:

• A bachelor's or graduate degree, ideally in a technical field
• Minimum five years of relevant work experience
• Proficiency with Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)
• Proficiency with scripting languages (e.g. Python)
• Demonstrated ability to build and test distributed software and/or hardware systems
• Demonstrated ability to lead anomaly investigation activities involving multiple experts

Desired Skills & Qualifications:

• Knowledge of formal software V&V processes
• Proficiency with software configuration management tools (e.g. git)
• Experience with containers (e.g. Docker) and virtual machines (e.g. QEMU)
• Experience with Linux and other embedded operating systems
• Familiarity with coding safety standards (e.g. MISRA-C)
• Familiarity with communication protocols (e.g. CCSDS, Ethernet, RS-422, TCP/IP, I2C, QAM, RS-232, Spacewire, CAN, GPIO, IPC, MIL1553, RS-485)
• Familiarity with electronic test equipment including oscilloscopes, multimeters, and logic analyzers
• Familiarity with electrical circuit dynamics
• Familiarity with environmental testing (e.g. EMC/EMI, thermal-vacuum testing)
• Familiarity with some of the systems that the software system is driving including multi-DOF spacecraft controls, thermal systems, RF communications systems, avionics systems, and power systems

Note: this position may be filled at multiple levels

Export Control Regulations:

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen or U.S. person which includes U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents, protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) including those individuals granted refugee or asylum status, or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State or the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

Astrobotic Technology, Inc. does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor.

Affirmative Action and Disability Accommodation:

If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request to [e-mail].