{"id":3206732,"url":"https://alion.io/job/pillar-space-systems-founding-lead-flight-software-engineer","title":"Founding Lead Flight Software Engineer","company":{"id":4398852,"name":"Pillar Space Systems","domain":"pillarspace.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/pillar-space-systems","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":4,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-25T05:49:26Z"}},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Los Angeles, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":185000,"max":275000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":275000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":8,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"CCSDS","optional":false},{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"DO-178C","optional":false},{"name":"Embedded C","optional":false},{"name":"F Prime","optional":false},{"name":"FreeRTOS","optional":false},{"name":"Linux","optional":false},{"name":"MIL-STD-1553","optional":false},{"name":"NASA cFS","optional":false},{"name":"PetaLinux","optional":false},{"name":"RTEMS","optional":false},{"name":"RTOS","optional":false},{"name":"Rust","optional":false},{"name":"SpaceWire","optional":false},{"name":"Verification & Validation","optional":false},{"name":"Verilog","optional":false},{"name":"VHDL","optional":false},{"name":"C","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-06-27T03:17:22Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-06-27","last_verified_at":"2026-10-25T03:58:31Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":120,"trust":{"level":"stale","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale"],"days_open":120},"description":"Founding Lead Flight Software Engineer\nEquity: 0.3% - 1% depending on experience\nAbout Us\nWe're a stealth team building space hardware at the edge of what's currently possible - high-stakes, flight-grade systems where the engineering bar is unforgiving and the upside is enormous. While we can't share full details yet, our founding and early engineering team includes talent from SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and Impulse Space, the group includes people who've pulled off feats almost no one else on Earth has.\nRole Overview\nWe are seeking a Lead Flight Software Engineer to own our flight software stack from first principles - the software that commands, controls, and keeps our spacecraft alive.\nThis is a senior technical leadership role. You will not only define and execute the flight software architecture, but also help build the flight software team, set technical standards, mentor engineers, and establish the systems, processes, and culture required to develop flight-grade software.\nThis is not a narrow coding role. You will own the full flight software stack: bootloaders, board support packages, and device drivers up through command and telemetry, scheduling, GNC and autonomy integration, fault management, and the test infrastructure that proves it all works. You will partner closely with avionics on flight computer selection, interfaces, and bring-up, and make system-level trades across software, hardware, autonomy, and reliability.\nThe ideal candidate has direct experience with spacecraft flight software, real-time embedded systems, hardware/software integration, verification, and technical team leadership. We recognize that very few people have all of this. What matters most is that you have exceptional fundamentals, have led real software systems from concept toward flight, have managed or mentored engineers in high-performance technical environments, and can operate independently in ambiguity while making sound engineering tradeoffs. You will have direct ownership over one of the company's core technical challenges.\nKey Responsibilities\nOwn the flight software architecture, from early design through development, integration, test, qualification, and flight operations.\n\nLead development of real-time embedded flight software: board support packages, bootloaders, device drivers, RTOS configuration, scheduling, and inter-task communication.\n\nBuild command and telemetry handling, onboard data storage and downlink management, time management, and onboard sequencing and autonomy.\n\nArchitect fault detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR), safe modes, watchdogs, redundancy management, and fault tolerance appropriate for flight-grade autonomous systems.\n\nIntegrate GNC, power, propulsion, and payload algorithms and control loops into flight software with deterministic timing and well-defined interfaces.\n\nDefine software interfaces and command/telemetry protocols across vehicle buses (e.g., SpaceWire, CAN, Ethernet, MIL-STD-1553, RS-422/485, SPI, I2C, UART) and to the ground (e.g., CCSDS).\n\nSelect or build the flight software framework (e.g., NASA cFS, F Prime, or in-house), along with the toolchain, build system, and configuration management around it.\n\nBuild the software test infrastructure: unit and integration testing, software-in-the-loop simulation, hardware-in-the-loop and processor-in-the-loop rigs, flatsat-based verification, and continuous integration.\n\nDesign on-orbit flight software update mechanisms, secure boot, and software protections against memory corruption and single-event effects (EDAC, scrubbing, memory protection).\n\nPartner with avionics on processor and FPGA/SoC selection, board bring-up, and debugging, driving root-cause resolution across hardware and software on the bench and during integrated test campaigns.\n\nProvide technical leadership across flight software, embedded, ground software, and software test efforts.\n\nHelp hire, manage, mentor, and develop flight software and embedded engineers as the team grows.\n\nEstablish software engineering processes: coding standards, code and design review, static analysis, requirements traceability, and verification discipline appropriate for flight-grade software.\n\nHelp define software requirements, interfaces, timing and resource budgets (CPU, memory, bandwidth), verification plans, and fault-handling approaches for the vehicle.\n\nWork closely with avionics, GNC, power, propulsion, mechanical, systems, ground software, and mission operations to close interfaces, deliver command and telemetry databases and operational tooling, and field an integrated flight system.\n\nWork closely with the founders and early engineering team to shape the technical roadmap, engineering culture, hiring plan, and long-term flight software strategy.\n\nRepresent the flight software function in cross-disciplinary design reviews, customer conversations, investor diligence, vendor discussions, and mission planning as needed.\n\nBasic Qualifications\nBachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.\n\n8+ years developing, testing, or flight-qualifying flight software or real-time embedded software for spacecraft, launch vehicles, aircraft, robotics, or other high-reliability systems.\n\nPrior experience leading technical workstreams, managing engineers, mentoring junior and mid-level engineers, or building high-performing engineering teams.\n\nDemonstrated ability to own complex software systems from early architecture through implementation, test, validation, and operational readiness.\n\nStrong fundamentals in embedded systems, real-time software, concurrency, and computer architecture.\n\nExpert proficiency in embedded C and/or C++ (Rust a plus) and deep experience with at least one real-time operating system (e.g., FreeRTOS, VxWorks, RTEMS, Zephyr) or bare-metal embedded development.\n\nExperience writing low-level software against real hardware: device drivers, BSPs, interrupt handling, DMA, and digital interfaces and buses.\n\nComfort reading schematics and datasheets and partnering with hardware engineers through board bring-up and debugging.\n\nExperience with fault-tolerant software design, FDIR, watchdogs, redundancy management, and safe-mode behavior.\n\nExperience taking software beyond the bench into integration, hardware-in-the-loop, processor-in-the-loop, or representative testbeds.\n\nExperience with modern software practices: version control, code review, automated testing, and continuous integration.\n\nLab fluency: comfortable with debuggers (JTAG/SWD), oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, EGSE, and test automation.\n\nAbility to work independently with limited direction, identify the right next problem to solve, and drive technical work from ambiguity to tested flight software.\n\nAbility to make practical system-level tradeoffs across performance, schedule, cost, reliability, testability, and mission risk.\n\nAbility to lead through influence in a cross-functional environment spanning avionics, GNC, power, propulsion, mechanical, systems, and mission operations.\n\nHighly Valuable Experience\nWe do not expect every candidate to have all of the following. The strongest candidates will likely have depth in some areas and the ability to quickly learn the others.\nDemonstrated flight heritage - flight software you helped develop that has flown and operated on orbit.\n\nExperience leading flight software, embedded, ground software, or software test teams.\n\nExperience managing engineers in a startup, aerospace company, defense contractor, launch company, robotics company, or other high-reliability technical environment.\n\nExperience with flight software frameworks such as NASA cFS, F Prime, or comparable in-house frameworks.\n\nExperience implementing GNC, attitude control, or autonomy software on embedded targets.\n\nExperience handling radiation effects in software: single-event-effect mitigation, EDAC, memory scrubbing, and memory protection.\n\nExperience with spacecraft communications and protocols, including CCSDS, SpaceWire, MIL-STD-1553, or CAN.\n\nExperience with bootloaders, secure boot, and on-orbit / over-the-air flight software update mechanisms.\n\nExperience with ground software, telemetry and command systems, or mission operations tooling.\n\nExperience with FPGAs or SoCs (e.g., Xilinx/AMD Zynq), HDL development (VHDL/Verilog), or hardware/software co-design.\n\nExperience running embedded Linux (e.g., Yocto, PetaLinux) alongside RTOS or bare-metal software.\n\nExperience with simulation, software-in-the-loop, and flatsat-based verification for flight software.\n\nExperience designing test infrastructure developed internally, including flatsats, HIL/PIL rigs, simulators, and automated regression suites.\n\nExperience with static analysis, coding standards (e.g., MISRA C, JPL Power of Ten), and code coverage for safety-critical software.\n\nExperience with cybersecurity for embedded or flight systems.\n\nExperience with formal requirements, V&V, flight qualification, mission assurance, fault trees, hazard analysis, or safety-critical software standards (e.g., NASA NPR 7150.2, DO-178C, or comparable).\n\nExperience transitioning flight software from prototype through flight operations, anomaly response, and post-flight reconstruction.\n\nExperience in early-stage startups, small high-performing teams, or environments where engineers must own broad technical scope.\n\nExperience recruiting, interviewing, closing, and onboarding exceptional technical talent.\n\nWho You Are\nYou are an exceptional flight software engineer with strong fundamentals and the ability to reason from first principles.\n\nYou are a technical leader who raises the bar for the people around you.\n\nYou have managed, mentored, or led engineers before and know how to create clarity, accountability, and momentum in ambiguous environments.\n\nYou are comfortable owning large, ambiguous, mission-critical problems without waiting for detailed direction.\n\nYou can move fluidly between architecture, code, the bench, integration, test, team leadership, and system-level tradeoffs.\n\nYou are not just interested in writing code; you want to see it run on real hardware, in real environments, under real constraints.\n\nYou are excited by flight-grade software that has to work the first time and keep working when things go wrong.\n\nYou are willing to learn unfamiliar domains quickly and deeply, whether that means avionics hardware, FPGAs, radiation effects, RTOS internals, GNC, cybersecurity, or flight operations.\n\nYou have strong opinions loosely held. You can defend a technical position, accept feedback, change course when the system demands it, and make appropriate tradeoffs in support of the mission.\n\nYou are collaborative, low-ego, and rigorous.\n\nYou want founding-level ownership and are motivated by building a company, not just completing assigned tasks.\n\nYou are excited to help build not only the product, but also the engineering organization behind it.\n\nBenefits\nHealth Insurance - We cover the full base premium for Blue Shield's Bronze plan. If you would like more coverage, you can upgrade to the Gold plan and cover the difference in premium. You are also welcome to add dependents and a spouse to your plan.\n\nDental & Vision - We cover the base premiums for both dental and vision through Guardian. Coverage for dependents and a spouse is available as well.\n\n401(k) - We offer a 401(k) with a 4% company match.\n\nEquity - You will receive meaningful equity in the company, so you share in what we build together.\n\nPTO & Sick Time - We offer unlimited PTO and sick time, and we trust you to take the time you need to rest and recharge.\n\nWhy Join Us?\nBuild ambitious, world-first space hardware alongside an exceptional technical team.\n\nOwn the flight software that runs the entire vehicle.\n\nBuild and lead one of the most important technical functions at the company.\n\nWork on systems where software, hardware, autonomy, and operations all have to come together...","description_format":"text","description_chars":12568,"description_truncated":true,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":8,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Health insurance","Unlimited PTO"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Information Security","Commercial Aviation"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-24T13:26:12Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":11,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.385,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":120,"expected_fill_days":27,"reasons":["conf:1","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-25T05:49:26Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":275000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/pillar-space-systems-founding-lead-flight-software-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/pillar-space-systems-founding-lead-flight-software-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-25T06:06:26Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":8352,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-26T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":4398852},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=4398852"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fpillar-space-systems-founding-lead-flight-software-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fpillar-space-systems-founding-lead-flight-software-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fpillar-space-systems-founding-lead-flight-software-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/pillar-space-systems-founding-lead-flight-software-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fpillar-space-systems-founding-lead-flight-software-engineer"}]}