Flight Software Engineer

Flight Software Engineer Compensation: $90K–$205K base + equity Location: Hawthorne, CA (5 days/week in office) Work Policy: On-site only Relocation: $5K–$10K assistance available Stage: Series A space technology startup | $26.5M funding | Founded 2021

Who Are We? We’re building a constellation of spacecraft designed to reflect sunlight back to Earth after dark—extending solar power generation beyond sunset. It sounds bold because it is.

Backed by top-tier investors and led by a former SpaceX engineer, we’re developing novel low-Earth orbit spacecraft with our first launch targeted for 2026. This is a hardware-meets-software challenge at planetary scale.

We operate with urgency, ambition, and a bias toward people who have done something exceptional—whether that’s shipping high-reliability systems, building something wild on your own, or taking an unconventional path and outperforming expectations.

What’s in It for You? You’ll write software that literally flies in space.

You’ll own flight-critical systems from concept to deployment and support them on orbit.

You’ll collaborate closely with avionics, electrical, and mission operations teams in a deeply technical, cross-functional environment.

You’ll work on autonomous systems that must operate reliably in harsh, unforgiving conditions—where “mostly works” is not an option.

You’ll receive competitive compensation, meaningful equity, full medical/dental/vision coverage (100% employer-paid base plans), 401K access, commuter benefits, unlimited PTO (with required minimum usage), and daily healthy lunches.

What Will You Do? Design, develop, and deploy flight software onboard a fleet of novel spacecraft.

Build reliable autonomous systems and the infrastructure required for rigorous testing and large-scale in-space deployment.

Implement command and data handling systems, guidance navigation and control (GNC), and fault detection and isolation mechanisms.

Develop fault-tolerant software architectures including watchdogs, voting logic, error correction, and redundancy strategies.

Support on-orbit operations, including iterative improvements and over-the-air updates.

Own the full development lifecycle: concept design, implementation, testing, integration, and release.

Collaborate in brainstorm sessions and deep technical discussions to push performance, safety, and reliability forward.

What Will You Need? 3+ years of strong C/C++ experience in embedded or autonomous systems.

Demonstrated excellence working on a complex, high-reliability software project (autonomous systems strongly preferred).

Experience with embedded systems (ARM microcontrollers, embedded Linux platforms).

Strong debugging, unit testing, and system-level validation skills.

Understanding of networking fundamentals and distributed systems concepts.

Experience with fault-tolerant software design and high-reliability engineering principles.

Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, evolving startup environment.

Strongly Preferred Prior flight software experience for spacecraft or similar mission-critical systems.

Exposure to industry standards such as MISRA-C or JSF.

Background in aerospace, satellites, avionics, robotics, automotive firmware, medical devices, or other high-reliability hardware environments.

BS in Computer Science, Aerospace, Electrical, Mechanical Engineering, or related field.

We are particularly excited by outliers—engineers who have built something exceptional, led ambitious technical efforts early in their careers, or taken unconventional paths while demonstrating unusual depth and drive.

If you want to work on software that leaves Earth—and help power it after dark—this is the role.