Staff Flight Software Engineer — ADCS & Imaging Payload

Darwin Recruitment; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Darwin Recruitment is seeking an experienced Staff Flight Software Engineer to join our Satellite Embedded Software team, focusing on mission-critical embedded software for imaging payloads and ADCS.

This hands-on leadership role shapes software architecture, mentors engineers, and delivers robust flight software from development through on-orbit operations, collaborating with systems, hardware, and mission operations.

Washington State-based hybrid work option available.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in CS/CE/EE or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of production or embedded software experience.
• Expert-level C/C++ and Python coding skills.
• Embedded Linux experience with Buildroot/Yocto.
• Strong technical leadership across multidisciplinary teams.
• Analytical, debugging and root-cause analysis skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; capable of working with minimal supervision.
• Eligibility to support programmes requiring U.S. citizenship.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for ADCS and imaging payload flight software.
• Design, develop, and maintain embedded software for spacecraft systems.
• Drive Agile development and Jira-based project management.
• Participate in sprint planning, reviews, stand-ups, and planning.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to deliver mission-critical features.
• Verify software with documentation, testing, inspection, and analysis.
• Work with Systems Engineering to refine software requirements.
• Contribute to process improvements, coding standards, and release procedures.
• Support additional flight software development activities as needed.

Skills

C/C++

Python

Embedded Linux

Leadership

Debugging

Communication

Collaboration

U.S. citizenship eligibility

RTOS (FreeRTOS)

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/CE/EE or equivalent

Tools

Jira

Buildroot

Yocto

Job description

Darwin Recruitment is seeking an experienced Staff Flight Software Engineer to join our Satellite Embedded Software team, focusing on mission-critical embedded software for imaging payloads and ADCS.

This hands-on leadership role shapes software architecture, mentors engineers, and delivers robust flight software from development through on-orbit operations, collaborating with systems, hardware, and mission operations.

Washington State-based hybrid work option available.