Staff Software Engineer, Space Special Programs

Anduril Industries, Inc.; Chantilly (VA); Hybrid; USD 220,000 - 292,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive equity grants

Comprehensive benefits

Health coverage

Retirement plan

Job summary

Anduril Industries in Chantilly, VA is seeking a Staff Software Engineer for Space Special Programs to own the full lifecycle of flight, ground, and payload software across embedded and host environments. As team lead and individual contributor, you will architect systems, drive cross-disciplinary collaboration, and mentor engineers to deliver high-reliability, reusable software for space missions.

You will shape designs, guide reviews, and coordinate with mission design, hardware, and C2

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, electrical / computer engineering, or similar engineering or technical field.
• 10+ years software engineering experience with embedded, host, and product software.
• 3+ years leading a software engineering team for small spacecraft.
• Experience creating subsystem requirements and reusable software architectures.
• Experience writing embedded C code, device drivers, and resource-constrained algorithms.
• Experience hosting GUI, database interfaces, and protocol translators for spacecraft systems.
• Design artifacts (CoDR/SDR/PDR/CDR/TRR) and clear design notes for algorithm intent.
• Excellent communication; U.S. Citizenship and ability to obtain TS clearance.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement the full lifecycle of flight, ground, and payload software across embedded and host levels.
• Architect software systems and mentor a team spanning embedded, FPGA, and data processing tasks.
• Lead design reviews, write system design docs, and ensure high reliability and reusability.
• Coordinate with mission design, hardware, and C2 software to integrate spacecraft systems.
• Drive rapid prototyping, verification, and qualification activities.
• Foster a fast-paced, collaborative team culture and deliver on schedule.

Skills

Embedded software

C programming

Host software

Algorithm design

Team leadership

Communication

System architecture

RF communication

Computer vision

FPGA interfacing

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/EE or similar

MS in aerospace/CS (preferred)

Tools

C/C++

Embedded systems

GUI/DB interfaces

Job description

Staff Software Engineer, Space Special Programs

Chantilly, Virginia, United States; Herndon, Virginia, United States

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. By bringing the expertise, technology, and business model of the 21st century’s most innovative companies to the defense industry, Anduril is changing how military systems are designed, built and sold. Anduril’s family of systems is powered by Lattice OS, an AI-powered operating system that turns thousands of data streams into a realtime, 3D command and control center. As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting-edge autonomy, AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the military in months, not years.

ABOUT THE TEAM

In the Space Special Programs team, we build spacecraft and space systems which serve a wide variety of functions in the space architecture. At a time when space superiority can no longer be taken for granted and with space systems proliferating at an incredible rate, the Space Special Programs team provides advanced, mission critical capabilities to our customer base to be able to more effectively operate and survive within this expanding environment with limited personnel. Working across product, engineering, sales,logistics, operations, and mission success, the Space Special Programs team develops, tests, deploys, andoperatesnew, unique, space capabilities to drive mission success in challenging operational environments.

ABOUT THE JOB

We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer to join our rapidly growing team in Chantilly, VA. In this role, you will be responsible for implementation of the full lifecycle of flight software, ground test software, ground station software – at both embedded and application levels. As the lead for the software engineering team you are expected to architect the software systems, understand the full range of embedded, host, communication, data storage, computer vision, FPGA-interfacing, and algorithm implementation tasks you and your team will need to accomplish. You are expected to be an individual contributor as well as the team lead. Your engineering team as a whole must span the capabilities of deeply embedded software design, implementation, and debugging, including data protocols, RF communication, machine learning, computer vision, and implementing control algorithms in a computationally-restricted environment; host side software for user interfaces, equipment interfaces, machine-to-machine communication, data analysis, display, compression and extraction to human-useable forms; and interfacing with existing Command and Control software and databases to integrate the spacecraft systems in a simple fashion. The embedded tasking will also include writing code to operate at the intersection of hardware, FPGA, and software. Additionally, you will be responsible for helping develop the system and mission designs & concepts, and, as the software development expert, for mentoring and growing your team.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Work with a cross-functional team to designmarket leading hardware-basedproducts
• Drive product maturity through rapid prototyping, design verification, and qualification activities
• Apply modern space-flightsoftwaredesign standardsand guidelines(e.g.fault detection and recovery, error checking,data redundancy, etc.)to create high-reliability, highly manufacturable systems, and a team which implements them.
• Architect and design flight, ground, and payload systems to be able to generically implement the given mission requirements, and effectivelycommunicate these goals, along with specific taskings, to your team
• Operate as a member of your team and a resource for them when they are stuck
• Understand the mission needs and effectively translate them into software products that are both efficient in implementing but are generic enough to be ultra-reusableforlowest costfuture development
• Lead the team inestablishinginternal guidelines and best practices for space flightsoftwaredesign, test,manufacture, and operations
• Conduct peer-level and cross-discipline design reviewsand develop customer-facing system design documentation and presentations
• Help drive development,integrationand test activities to meet schedule
• Work in a fast-paced environment, having to juggle multiple concurrent projects and customers

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, electrical / computer engineering, or similar engineering or technical field
• 10+ yearsSoftwareEngineering Experiencedirectly developing a combination of embedded, host, and product-specific software
• 3+ years of leading a softwareengineering team working onsmall spacecraft
• Experience developing subsystem requirements and interfaces; including mission systemsand developing software architectures to meet those requirements with reusable software.
• Experience writing embedded C code, device drivers, and implementing algorithms with limited computational & storage resources
• Experience writing host level code for GUI, database interaction, and protocol interfaces/translators neededfor interfacingdifferent partsof spacecraft systems together (in both cases of having an explicit ICD and havingvery littleinformation)
• Experience developing variousdesign artifacts, such as: Design Review material (CoDR, SDR, PDR, CDR, TRR,etc),design notes,and other documentation to help assure a team of engineers understands the algorithms and intent of the software they are implementing
• Outstanding communication skills to include presentation of developed artifacts
• Must be a U.S. Citizen and able to obtain andmaintaina U.S. Top Secret security clearance

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• M.S. in aerospace, mechanical, computer science or similar engineering or technical field
• Demonstrated High ownership and autonomy across theentire cradle-to-grave lifecycle of a spacecraft or space system.
• Demonstrated ability to work in an extremely fast-paced, nimble, environment withprograms that have limited, broad,Level-0requirements
• 3+ years working in a classified environment
• Experience designing, integrating, and flyingCubesatspacecraft meant tooperatein LEO through GEO environments

US Salary Range

$220,000 - $292,000 USD

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are included in the majority of full time offers; and are considered part of Anduril's total compensation package. Additionally, Anduril offers top-tier benefits for full-time employees, including:

At Anduril, we invest in our people. Our comprehensive, competitive benefits package (available at little to no cost to employees) ensures you’re supported in health, recovery, and whatever comes next. For more information, Explore Our Benefits .

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