Senior Flight Software Designer (6+ month Contract)

We’re on the hunt for a top-tier Flight Software Engineer for a 6+ month contract. Your focus will be on the development and maintenance of flight software and embedded Linux software for both space and ground-based assets across a growing fleet of spacecraft. You’ll be relied upon for input and decisions that will directly impact system design and operation.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design and develop reliable, high-quality software related to:
• Embedded Linux applications and platform software for both space and ground systems
• Flight software applications and services supporting spacecraft command and control, telemetry, fault detection and recovery, resource management, and on-orbit operations
• Linux-based development on Xilinx Zynq MPSoCs, Versal SoCs, and NVIDIA Jetson-class hardware
• Own and maintain embedded Linux build environments using OpenEmbedded/Yocto, including layers, recipes, system images, SDKs, package configuration, and build troubleshooting
• Design and integrate flight software interfaces with ground software, including HTTP APIs and ZeroMQ message buses using data formats such as Protocol Buffers
• Write thorough tests and documentation
• Participate in software design review and code review processes
• Work with electrical, digital design, ground software, and operations teams to identify required features and define the system architecture
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior engineers
• Identify shortcomings in existing software components and direct future development efforts

Required Skills & Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent
• 7+ years of embedded development experience, in Aerospace or relevant industry
• Strong software design and development skills, including architecture, algorithms, testing, and debugging
• Proficiency in C/C++, with experience developing reliable software for resource-constrained, mission-critical systems
• Strong embedded Linux experience, including application development, system integration, debugging, kernel modules, device trees, and drivers
• Experience owning and maintaining embedded Linux build systems using OpenEmbedded/Yocto
• Experience developing Linux-based software for platforms such as Xilinx Zynq MPSoCs, Versal SoCs, or comparable embedded Linux platforms
• Experience developing and integrating distributed software interfaces using technologies such as ZeroMQ, Protocol Buffers, and HTTP APIs
• Understanding of flight-software concerns such as fault tolerance, deterministic behaviour, resource constraints, and operational reliability
• Excellent communication skills
• Ability to effectively use git

Bonus Points:

• Master’s degree
• Experience developing software for aerospace applications
• Experience deploying and supporting containerized software using Kubernetes on embedded Linux systems
• Experience with NVIDIA Jetson-class hardware
• Experience developing multi-stage bootloaders
• Experience developing in Python