Staff Software Engineer, Space Special Programs

InvestedintheMission; Virginia (MN); On-site; USD 220,000 - 292,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity grants

Top-tier benefits

Job summary

Anduril Industries is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead a space systems software team in Chantilly, VA. You will architect and implement flight, ground, and payload software across embedded and host levels, mentoring engineers and coordinating with cross-functional groups to meet mission requirements.

You will drive design reviews, ensure reliability, and contribute to system and mission designs while guiding a team through complex, safety-critical development in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, electrical/computer engineering or similar field.
• 10+ years of software engineering experience across embedded and host/software.
• 3+ years leading a software engineering team for spacecraft.
• Experience with subsystem requirements, interfaces, and reusable software architecture.
• Experience in embedded C, device drivers, and constrained resources.

Responsibilities

• Design market-leading hardware-based products with a cross-functional team.
• Mature products through prototyping, verification, and qualification.
• Apply space-flight software design standards for reliability and manufacturability.
• Architect flight, ground, and payload systems to meet mission requirements.
• Mentor and grow the software team and set internal best practices.
• Conduct design reviews and prepare customer-facing documentation.
• Lead development, integration and test activities to meet schedule.
• Work in a fast-paced, multi-project environment.

Skills

Software engineering

Leadership

Embedded C

Host-level GUI/DB/Protocols

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/EE or similar

MS in aerospace/engineering (preferred)

Job description

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, and operates new, 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 design market leading hardware‑based products
• Drive product maturity through rapid prototyping, design verification, and qualification activities
• Apply modern space‑flight software design standards and 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 effectively communicate 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‑reusable for lowest cost future development
• Lead the team in establishing internal guidelines and best practices for space flight software design, test, manufacture, and operations
• Conduct peer‑level and cross‑discipline design reviews and develop customer‑facing system design documentation and presentations
• Help drive development, integration and 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+ years Software Engineering Experience directly developing a combination of embedded, host, and product‑specific software
• 3+ years of leading a software engineering team working on small spacecraft
• Experience developing subsystem requirements and interfaces; including mission systems and 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 needed for interfacing different parts of spacecraft systems together (in both cases of having an explicit ICD and having very little information)
• Experience on mature spacecraft development programs including operational and environmental testing.
• Experience developing various design 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 and maintain a 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 the entire cradle‑to‑grave lifecycle of a spacecraft or space system.
• Demonstrated ability to work in an extremely fast‑paced, nimble, environment with programs that have limited, broad, Level‑0 requirements
• 3+ years working in a classified environment
• Experience designing, integrating, and flying Cubesat spacecraft meant to operate in 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:

Benefits

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.

Data Privacy

To view Anduril's candidate data privacy policy, please visit https://anduril.com/applicant-privacy-notice/.

By submitting your application, you consent to Anduril Industries using a third‑party service provider to conduct pre‑employment risk, integrity, and due diligence screening and assessing potential risks as part of your application process. This third‑party service provider provides risk‑intelligence services that may include analysis of sanctions and watchlists, adverse media, public‑record information, and other lawful open‑source or commercial data sources. This third‑party service provider does not act as a consumer reporting agency. Use of this provider helps to ensure compliance with applicable laws and protect technology, intellectual property, and organizational security.