Principal Embedded Software Engineer Verified today
About Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company building rockets, spacecraft, and critical subsystems. The Space Systems division builds complete spacecraft, payloads, and components including solar panels, flight software, star trackers, optical systems, separation systems, and radios. This division has enabled more than 1,700 missions for NASA, the Space Development Agency, and the U.S. Space Force, including missions to the Moon and Mars.
The Role
As a Principal Embedded Software Engineer for Rocket Lab Optical Systems in Tucson, AZ, you will design flight software for spacecraft in Tranche 3 of the U.S. Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. Rocket Lab Optical Systems solves mission-critical space domain and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance challenges for Department of Defense and Intelligence Community customers.
What You'll Do
- Play a key role in developing payload flight software for Space Systems programs.
- Deploy novel algorithms into austere environments on Size/Weight/Power constrained sensor systems.
- Lead cross-functional teams to define technical requirements and deliver integrated solutions.
- Provide technical leadership in all aspects of software design and development from requirements generation through implementation, testing, and deployment.
- Define and influence software architecture, design patterns, interfaces, and technical standards to ensure scalable, maintainable, and extensible solutions.
- Drive core software fundamentals of performance-oriented programming using a variety of accelerator technologies.
- Mentor engineers across experience levels and foster a culture of engineering excellence and continuous improvement.
- Support technical planning, effort estimation, risk identification, dependency management, and milestone delivery while communicating technical status and risks to stakeholders.
Qualifications Required
- Bachelor's degree in computer science or computer engineering.
- 12+ years of embedded software engineering experience.
- Experience designing complex multithreaded applications.
- Experience designing flight software.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance.
Qualifications Nice to Have
- Familiarity with high-performance and parallel processing.
- Exposure to novel architectures including FPGA and CUDA.
- Familiarity with flight software system management.
- Experience with algorithm implementation.
- Exposure to Python and MATLAB.
- Familiarity with numerical computing principles.
Working Conditions
This position may require prolonged periods of sitting, standing, walking, computer work, and occasional exposure to moderate levels of noise, dust, and fumes in production areas.
ITAR Compliance
To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations (ITAR), candidates must be a U.S. citizen, lawful U.S. permanent resident (Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted as a refugee or granted asylum, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State and/or the U.S. Department of Commerce.