Senior Embedded Flight Software Engineer Verified today

About the role

We are seeking a Senior Embedded Flight Software Engineer to join our aerospace team. You will be responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining firmware and flight software for spacecraft and advanced aerospace systems. You will work hands-on with embedded platforms, real-time operating systems, and mission-critical flight algorithms, collaborating closely with multidisciplinary engineering teams to deliver robust, reliable, and high-performance flight software.

This position is ideal for an engineer who thrives in low-level systems, enjoys building reliable software under strict constraints, and is passionate about contributing directly to aerospace missions.

Key duties and responsibilities

• Develop, integrate, and maintain firmware and flight software for spacecraft subsystems and avionics.
• Implement features and algorithms supporting flight hardware.
• Work with real-time operating systems (RTOS) and bare-metal environments.
• Design and develop communication interfaces such as UART, SPI, I2C, USB, Ethernet, or similar.
• Collaborate with hardware engineers to bring up new boards, debug hardware/software interactions, and develop drivers.
• Participate in software architecture design, code reviews, and continuous integration efforts.
• Develop unit tests, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) tests, and simulation-based verification.
• Support integration, environmental testing, and pre-flight validation.
• Contribute to system-level documentation including ICDs, design artifacts, test reports, and operational procedures.
• Troubleshoot and resolve issues related to performance, memory, timing, and reliability in resource-constrained environments.
• Communicate project progress, status, and potential issues clearly to stakeholders and leadership.
• Implement and maintain agile project management methodologies, adapting to changing requirements and priorities.

Education and experience

• Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, or a related discipline.
• 4 to 9 years of professional experience in embedded systems, firmware, or flight software development.
• Experience with embedded systems, microcontrollers, processors, or SoCs common in aerospace or industrial applications.
• Hands-on experience with RTOS, firmware development, and low-level programming.
• Experience with hardware bring-up, debugging tools (JTAG, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers), and embedded toolchains.
• Proficiency with version control (Git), build systems, and continuous integration pipelines.
• Strong understanding of real-time constraints, deterministic execution, and safe/reliable embedded design principles.

Skills

• Strong proficiency in C and C++.
• Familiarity with modern embedded development practices.
• Experience with common communication peripherals (SPI, I2C, UART).
• Exposure to software development in Linux environments.
• Experience with VxWorks preferred but not required.

Requirements

• Must be able to complete a U.S. government background investigation.
• Proof of U.S. Citizenship or US Permanent Residency is required.
• Must be willing to work evenings and weekends as needed to meet critical project milestones.
• Work may involve sitting or standing for extended periods (90% of the time).
• May require lifting and carrying up to 25 lbs. (5% of the time).

Work environment

Generally an office environment in Houston, but can involve inside or outside work depending on the task.