Staff Flight Software Architect, Hypersonic Arc Vehicle

Frontdoor Defense; Vista (CA); On-site; USD 165,000 - 236,000; Full time

Job summary

Inversion seeks a Staff Flight Software Engineer to own the end-to-end flight software architecture for the Arc hypersonic vehicle. You will report to the Engineering Manager of Arc Vehicle Software and serve as the principal software architect for the flight software running on the Arc vehicle.

You will lead embedded C/C++/Rust development, guide multi-rate GNC integration, and establish standards for safety-critical software while mentoring engineers and collaborating with system architects on

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent technical experience.
• Typically 9+ years of professional experience in embedded, real-time, or safety-critical software.
• Expertise in systems programming languages (C / C++ / Rust) in a Linux-based development environment.
• Deep understanding of embedded Linux, deterministic software execution, multi-threading, and memory management in resource-constrained environments.
• Proven track record of architecting and deploying flight software or high-reliability autonomous software on hardware that has operated in flight or harsh environments.
• Strong background in low-level drivers, networking, and hardware interface protocols (CAN, Ethernet, SPI, UART, or RS-422).
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with a proven ability to lead complex software design reviews.

Responsibilities

• Architect, write, and maintain high-reliability, fault-tolerant flight software for the Arc vehicle.
• Own the software architecture for critical vehicle state transitions, fault-management, power conservation, and autonomous mission execution.
• Lead integration and optimization of multi-rate GNC algorithms into the core C++ flight software loop.
• Establish embedded C++ development standards, coding guidelines, and software architectural patterns.
• Drive hardware-software boundary definition, board bring-up, and low-level debugging on target processors.
• Design and lead automated SIL and HIL test suites for robust code coverage.
• Mentor senior and mid-level engineers and promote rigorous software engineering practices.
• Collaborate with cross-functional system architects to define telemetry formats and hardware interfaces.

Skills

Flight software architecture

Real-time systems

Software leadership

Verbal and written communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/CE/Aerospace or equivalent

Tools

C/C++/Rust

Embedded Linux

CAN

Ethernet

SPI

UART

RS-422

Job description

Inversion seeks a Staff Flight Software Engineer to own the end-to-end flight software architecture for the Arc hypersonic vehicle. You will report to the Engineering Manager of Arc Vehicle Software and serve as the principal software architect for the flight software running on the Arc vehicle.

You will lead embedded C/C++/Rust development, guide multi-rate GNC integration, and establish standards for safety-critical software while mentoring engineers and collaborating with system architects on