Lead Flight Software Verified today
About the role
At The Exploration Company, you will own the end-to-end delivery of all flight software, simulation environments, and supporting tools and software test setups required to fly, verify, and certify the vehicle. This is a hands-on leadership role: you will manage four teams (~20 engineers total) while staying technically sharp and deeply involved in architecture, trade-offs, and critical design decisions.
What you will do
You will define and evolve the overall flight software architecture, ensuring it is robust, scalable, and aligned with mission and safety requirements. You will personally drive key architectural and system-level decisions, review critical designs and code, and ensure that technical trade-offs are made deliberately and transparently.
You will establish a strong interface between flight software, avionics, GNC, systems engineering, and safety teams, making sure that integration risks are identified early and resolved systematically. You will shape the verification and validation ecosystem, including SIL, HIL, and Monte Carlo campaigns, and automated test pipelines.
You will align software development plans with overall program milestones and vehicle integration timelines. You will represent flight software in major program reviews and external technical exchanges, including certification discussions with NASA and other stakeholders.
You will build and lead a high-performing organization: coach team leads, grow senior engineers, establish engineering standards, and create a culture of ownership and accountability.
Key day-to-day duties include:
- Lead the design, development, and testing of the flight software for the spacecraft and all related elements
- Manage and oversee the software development team to ensure timely delivery of high-quality software
- Collaborate with avionics, GNC, and systems teams to ensure seamless integration
- Develop and implement software development processes and best practices
- Ensure the software meets all safety, performance, and reliability requirements
- Continuously evaluate and improve the software to meet changing mission needs
- Contribute hands-on to the flight software code and tests
- Promote and develop the skills and capabilities of your team members
What we are looking for
- Extensive experience in designing, developing, and testing flight software for spacecraft or related systems
- Strong leadership and management skills to lead a software development team
- Excellent collaboration skills to work effectively with avionics, GNC, and systems teams
- Knowledge and experience in implementing software development processes and best practices
- Ability to ensure the software meets safety, performance, and reliability requirements
- Hands-on coding and testing skills with C/C++
- Ability to promote and develop the skills and capabilities of team members
Why join us
- We make decisions fast whilst keeping our goals and systems in mind
- We are transparent about risks and obstacles so we can cooperate to overcome them
- You will be part of democratising space. It is a rare opportunity.
Relocation assistance is provided for those willing to relocate, including visa sponsorship where applicable. All offers are contingent upon successful completion of a background check.