{"id":3588396,"url":"https://alion.io/job/rainmaker-vehicle-software-engineer","title":"Vehicle Software Engineer","company":{"id":95757,"name":"Rainmaker","domain":"rainmaker.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/rainmaker-com","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"middle","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["El Segundo, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":115000,"max_usd":225000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":1539},"experience_years_min":3,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"MAVLink","optional":false},{"name":"Path Planning","optional":false},{"name":"Rust","optional":false},{"name":"Sensor Fusion","optional":false},{"name":"TypeScript","optional":false},{"name":"Linux","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-01T12:47:14Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-01","last_verified_at":"2026-11-03T01:12:11Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":1,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":1},"description":"Make it rain. Make Snow. Make Earth Habitable.\nRainmaker builds and deploys audacious technologies that work with nature to create an abundant, habitable planet. We are modernizing proven cloud-seeding science with weather-resistant UAS, radar and satellite observations, numerical weather prediction, novel sensing and validation systems, and sustainable seeding technologies. We are building an integrated system to make more freshwater available to farms, ecosystems, and communities.\nOur ambition is bold, but we pursue it with humility. We take on difficult problems in the real world with technical rigor, grit, integrity, and an openness to learning and course-correcting. We are hiring individuals with evidence of exceptional ability. If you want to build systems that endure, restore and deliver the future we were promised, we want to hear from you.\nMake it rain. Make Snow. Make Earth Habitable.\nRainmaker builds and deploys audacious technologies that work with nature to create an abundant, habitable planet. We are modernizing proven cloud-seeding science with weather-resistant UAS, radar and satellite observations, numerical weather prediction, novel sensing and validation systems, and sustainable seeding technologies. We are building an integrated system to make more freshwater available to farms, ecosystems, and communities.\nOur ambition is bold, but we pursue it with humility. We take on difficult problems in the real world with technical rigor, grit, integrity, and an openness to learning and course-correcting. We are hiring individuals with evidence of exceptional ability. If you want to build systems that endure, restore, and deliver the future we were promised, we want to hear from you.\nThe vehicle software team builds the software that operates Rainmaker’s cloud-seeding vehicles, connecting flight control, onboard computing, sensors, payloads, and ground operations. We work closely with electrical, mechanical, manufacturing, and flight operations teams to turn new hardware into reliable systems that can be built, deployed, and operated at scale. Our goal is to make every vehicle a dependable tool for delivering more freshwater where it is needed.\nAbout the Role\nYou will own vehicle software capabilities from the operator interface to the onboard systems that execute a mission. Your work will span ground stations, mission planning and execution, failsafe behaviors, sensing, payload and sensor integration, and autonomy. You will build software that helps operators make good decisions, lets vehicles carry out missions reliably, and handles failures predictably. You will take projects from architecture and prototyping through simulation, hardware integration, flight testing, deployment, and field support. We’re looking for a high-agency engineer who identifies what needs to happen, turns incomplete requirements into a clear plan, and follows through until the system works reliably in real operating conditions. This is a hands-on technical ownership role with the autonomy to shape the vehicle software and the responsibility to deliver it.\n\nWhat You'll Do\n\nOwn the architecture, implementation, and maintenance of vehicle software capabilities across onboard computers and ground systems, with clear contracts for commands, telemetry, state, and failure behavior.\n\nBuild operator interfaces and ground-station workflows for vehicle preparation, preflight checks, mission control, health monitoring, and intervention. Make vehicle state, command outcomes, and required operator actions clear.\n\nDevelop mission planning and execution software that turns operational goals into validated flight paths and geofences, accounts for vehicle endurance, coordinates flight and seeding activity, and supports mission changes as conditions evolve.\n\nDesign and validate arming checks, interlocks, and failsafe behaviors for communication loss, degraded sensing, low power, process failures, and unexpected vehicle states, including clear transitions between autonomous behavior and operator control.\n\nIntegrate sensors, cameras, and seeding payloads with onboard software and flight-control systems. Ensure measurements, calibration, timestamps, device health, and payload commands are reliable and observable.\n\nDevelop autonomy that uses sensing and vehicle state to execute missions within operating limits, handle contingencies, and reduce operator workload.\n\nBuild dependable communication between vehicles and ground stations, accounting for intermittent links, stale telemetry, and commands that may be delayed, duplicated, or unacknowledged.\n\nBuild automated tests, software-in-the-loop simulation, and hardware-in-the-loop coverage that catch regressions and exercise failure modes before releases reach the fleet.\n\nPartner with hardware engineers and flight operations to validate new capabilities on the bench and in flight, and make deployment, configuration, calibration, and diagnostics repeatable.\n\nInvestigate field failures using logs, telemetry, and mission replay; resolve root causes and turn what you learn into better software, tests, and operator workflows.\n\nWhat We're Looking For\n\n3+ years of hands-on experience developing software for vehicles, robotics, or other systems that interact with the physical world, including deployment into production or field use.\n\nDemonstrated ownership of a software capability from design through integration, release, and ongoing support, including making technical decisions independently and resolving failures in real operating conditions.\n\nStrong systems programming skills in Rust or C/C++, with the willingness to work primarily in Rust and contribute to TypeScript-based operator interfaces. Our stack includes Rust onboard services and ground-station backends, React/TypeScript interfaces in Electron, and PX4 flight-control integration over MAVLink.\n\nExperience developing and debugging software on Linux, including concurrent processes, network communication, and interfaces to hardware or flight-control systems.\n\nPractical experience in one or more of the following: operator interfaces and ground stations, mission planning, autonomy, sensing, or payload integration, with the willingness to work across these boundaries.\n\nThe ability to reason about distributed system state, timing, and failures, and implement robust state machines, fault detection, failsafes, and recovery paths.\n\nA practical approach to operator-facing software: you can turn field workflows into clear controls, useful feedback, and predictable system behavior.\n\nExperience building maintainable software with version control, reproducible builds, automated testing, and disciplined release practices.\n\nEvidence of high agency: you surface problems without waiting to be assigned, make sound decisions with incomplete information, ask for help when it matters, and close the loop on results.\n\nClear communication and the ability to work closely with hardware engineers and operators, explain tradeoffs, and document decisions so others can operate and support what you ship.\n\nWhat Will Set Your Apart\n\nExperience deploying drones or autonomous robots and supporting real-world flight or field operations.\n\nFamiliarity with PX4, MAVLink, ground-control systems, or flight-critical software.\n\nExperience building operator interfaces with React, TypeScript, or Electron, particularly mapping tools or geospatial mission-planning workflows.\n\nExperience with sensor fusion, state estimation, path planning, or autonomous mission execution.\n\nExperience integrating payloads, sensors, or embedded controllers over interfaces such as CAN, serial, or Ethernet.\n\nExperience validating safety-related behaviors through simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, fault injection, and field testing.\n\nWhat Success Looks Like In the First 90 Days\nYou understand how operators plan and execute missions and can trace commands, telemetry, and failure behavior between the ground station, onboard software, flight controller, sensors, and payloads. You have identified the most consequential reliability risks and operator pain points, and the team has a clear plan for what to address first. You have delivered a meaningful vehicle software improvement through simulation and integration testing into an operational release, working with flight operations to verify its behavior in the field. You have demonstrated both its intended behavior and its response to relevant failures, and improved at least one recurring source of friction in mission planning, operation, testing, deployment, or diagnostics.\n\nSupporting the Rainmakers behind the mission\nMaking earth more habitable is ambitious work and we want the people doing it to feel supported:\nA stake in what we build: Meaningful stock options and the opportunity to help shape Rainmaker as an early member of the team.\n\nSupport for your health: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family.\n\nAn investment in your future: A 401(k) with employer matching to help you build long-term savings.\n\nTime to recharge: Unlimited PTO for rest, exploration, and the people and pursuits that matter to you plus a generous paid holiday schedule.\n\nTime for a growing family: Paid parental leave for both parents to welcome a child and spend time together.\n\nLunch together: Daily lunch provided at our El Segundo headquarters, giving Rainmakers a chance to share a meal and connect with teammates.\n\nHelp making the move: Relocation assistance for eligible roles to support your transition to Rainmaker.\n\nRainmaker Is An Equal Opportunity Employer\nEmployment decisions are made without regard to any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law.\nRainmaker provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and for other protected reasons as required by law. If you need accommodation to participate in the application or interview process, contact . Requests for accommodation will be handled confidentially to the extent reasonably possible.\nData Privacy\nCalifornia applicants can review our California Applicant Privacy Notice. The notice explains the personal information we collect, how we use it, how long we retain it, and the privacy rights that may be available.\nE-Verify\nRainmaker participates in E-Verify for U.S. Employees. To learn more, including your rights and responsibilities, please visit E-verify.gov.","description_format":"text","description_chars":10436,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":3,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Parental leave","Relocation assistance","Stock options","Unlimited PTO","Vision insurance"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":true,"industries":["Water Resources","Drones & UAVs","Research Institutes"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-01T15:05:46Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":0,"expected_fill_days":33,"reasons":["conf:3","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-11-02T06:13:15Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/rainmaker-vehicle-software-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/rainmaker-vehicle-software-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-03T02:22:07Z","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":3043,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-04T00:00:00Z"}},"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":95757},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=95757"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Frainmaker-vehicle-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%2Frainmaker-vehicle-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%2Frainmaker-vehicle-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/rainmaker-vehicle-software-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Frainmaker-vehicle-software-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3588396}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"rainmaker.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3588396},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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