Senior Flight Software Engineer Verified today
About Varda
Varda is accelerating commercial space infrastructure. We design and operate W-Series vehicles in-house, including pharmaceutical processing payloads, reentry capsules, C-PICA heat shields, and satellite buses. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind by creating products and infrastructure that allow space to directly benefit life on Earth.
About This Role
The Senior Flight Software Engineer determines how our spacecraft behaves and operates in orbit and builds the reliable software to make it happen. You will own all phases of development, from requirements capture through testing and flight operational support.
Responsibilities
- Develop reliable flight software that determines how the spacecraft, satellite bus, and reentry capsule operate throughout the entire mission.
- Write quality structured bare metal, RTOS, or Linux based software for embedded processors in C++.
- Own all aspects of software development, from design, testing, and integration.
- Scope projects including requirements capture and initial design trades given open-ended problems.
- Ensure system quality and performance through software test, verification, and validation techniques.
- Teamwork, communicate and problem solve in a collaborative environment.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, math, physics, engineering or equivalent technical experience in safety critical software.
- 5+ years of experience in the development of spacecraft or similar safety critical software.
- Experience with development in C++ and a strong understanding of the language concepts.
Preferred Skills and Experience
- End-to-end experience building and launching a spacecraft.
- Experience developing and testing real-time embedded systems.
- Experience with safety-critical software, especially for aerospace applications.
- Experience with CCSDS telemetry and telecommand systems.
- Experience with F' or cFS framework.
- Experience with Python or Rust.
- Knowledge of basic analog and digital electronics.
- Familiarity with SPI, I2C, CAN, or EtherCAT.
Compensation and Benefits
Salary range: $169,067 to $216,031 per year. Leveling and base salary determined by job-related skills, education level, experience, and performance. You will be eligible for stock options and long-term cash awards.
This is an onsite position in El Segundo, California.
Full-Time Employee Benefits
- Flexible PTO policy plus 12 paid holidays.
- 100% company-paid Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance for employees and dependents, with FSA and employer-matched HSA options.
- Voluntary accident, hospital, critical illness, and pet insurance.
- $120/month wellness reimbursement for gym and fitness.
- 12 weeks parental leave plus supplemental disability leave for California mothers.
- Family building, pregnancy, parenting and menopause benefits via Maven Clinic.
- Sponsored One Medical memberships for employees and dependents.
- Substantial incentive equity in a fully funded space start-up.
- 401(k) retirement plan with 6% employer match, immediately vested.
- $20/pay period cell phone reimbursement.
- Relocation support for new hires, if needed.
- Fully stocked kitchen with lunch provided daily and dinner twice weekly.
- Company and team-bonding events, happy hours and mission-success celebrations.
- Complimentary EV charging.