Senior Flight Software Engineer

Description

The company builds, launches and runs the largest fleet of imaging satellites ever assembled, and sends the data through a cloud platform to customers in commercial, environmental and humanitarian fields.

It is both a space business and a data business, and customers worldwide use the data to build technology, grow revenue, support research and tackle large global problems.

Because the company handles hardware, manufacturing, data processing and software in-house, the staff come from many different disciplines.

The company is global. Staff work remotely from anywhere in the world or from offices in San Francisco, Washington DC, Germany, Austria, Slovenia and the Netherlands.

The Flight Software team writes the embedded software for the Superdove, Skysat, Pelican and Tanager satellites. That code runs in orbit and covers navigation, avionics, payload control, radio software and internal tooling.

The team works closely with the Payload, EE, RF, Ground Stations and Missions teams to deliver reliable systems that keep missions on track.

As a Senior Flight Software Engineer for Superdove, you will take charge of ongoing development, verification and escalation of on-orbit anomalies on the core imaging platform. You will work with RF, ADCS, EE, FPGA and flight software specialists to improve the software, support new requirements and circuit designs, and use Mission Control and telemetry to study how the software behaves at orbital scale.

Responsibilities

• Lead ongoing development, verification and escalation of on-orbit anomalies for Superdove.
• Build improved flight software for the Superdove spacecraft.
• Find efficiency and productivity gains and put them into practice.
• Learn existing flight software in depth with FSW experts, collect ideas for improvement, and plan multi-month projects that deliver lasting value.
• Write automated tests that raise confidence in flight software quality.
• Work with Missions Systems, Satellite Operations, Satellite Security, Systems Engineering, Ground Station Operations and other teams so the software meets customer needs.
• Work with Manufacturing and Manufacturing Test to streamline satellite builds and integration.

Requirements

• Hands-on experience with Ubuntu and/or Debian Linux.
• Experience with embedded C, with or without an RTOS, ideally on STM32.
• Experience writing C and C++ application code on UNIX or Linux.
• Working knowledge of Python 3 and Python 2.
• A bachelor's degree in software engineering, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering or a similar field, or equivalent work experience.
• Able to use lab equipment such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers and voltmeters to investigate software and system behavior.
• 6+ years designing and developing software systems.
• Able to maintain existing systems, analyze performance data and investigate complex system behavior.
• Stand out: experience using Linux in embedded settings such as kiosks or vehicles.
• Stand out: knowledge of 8051 microprocessors.
• Stand out: experience with FPGAs and/or software that interfaces with FPGA designs.
• Stand out: understanding of PC architecture, including BIOS/EFI, PCIe and USB peripheral interfaces, and SATA and eMMC storage.
• Stand out: experience maintaining or operating a deployed fleet of embedded systems with telemetry and observability features.

Conditions

Full-time, hybrid role based in the San Francisco office 3 days per week.

US base salary for San Francisco is $162,600 - $203,200 USD at the start of employment. The final figure depends on job-related experience, skills and location. This range reflects typical new hire salaries in US locations only, and your recruiter can share the range for your preferred location.

The role may be eligible for discretionary short-term and long-term incentives, including bonus and equity.

Under the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered.

The role requires access to export-controlled information, so employment or contractor hiring depends on being able to access that information without additional export licensing from the Bureau of Industry and Security and/or the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls.

Applications close at 23:45 PT (11:45pm) on the date stated below. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, and the posting may close early once enough suitable applications arrive.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans.
• Health Savings Account (HSA) with a company contribution.
• Generous paid time off, plus holidays and company-wide days off.
• 16 weeks of paid parental leave.
• Wellness program and Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Home office reimbursement.
• Monthly phone and internet reimbursement.
• Tuition reimbursement and access to LinkedIn Learning.
• Equity.
• Commuter benefits if you live near an office.
• Paid volunteering time off.
• Offerings depend on employment type and location, in line with applicable law or company policy.