Flight Software Engineer (SDT)
About The Position
Umbra is seeking a Flight Software Engineer (Early Career) to support the development of mission-critical software for our satellite systems. This role is ideal for an engineer early in their career who is excited to work across flight software, system integration, and test infrastructure in a fast-paced, hardware-driven environment. You will contribute to the design, development, and validation of software that operates both on spacecraft and within supporting ground systems. This includes building reliable system components, developing automated test systems, and working closely with hardware and systems engineers to ensure mission success. There will also be opportunities to develop flight software components over time as you grow in the role. This position is located on-site in our Santa Barbara, CA office.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related technical field.
- 0-3+ years of experience in software engineering (internships, research, or industry).
- Proficiency in Python and/or Rust.
- Experience with Linux-based development environments.
- Familiarity with version control (Git) and collaborative development workflows.
- Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work across system boundaries.
Nice To Haves
- Experience with embedded or flight software development.
- Experience writing automated tests (e.g., pytest, unittest, or similar frameworks).
- Familiarity with real-time systems, distributed systems, or systems programming.
- Experience with hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) testing or testing of hardware-integrated systems.
- Exposure to CI/CD pipelines, Docker, or infrastructure tooling.
- Experience with automated testing frameworks and strategies.
- Familiarity with Ansible of similar infrastructure automation tools.
- Experience with concurrent or asynchronous programming.
- Background in aerospace, robotics, or other high-reliability systems.
- Demonstrated ownership of projects (academic, personal, or professional).
- Interest in working closely with hardware and system-level engineering teams.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to design, develop, and maintain reliable, fault-tolerant software systems.
- Contribute to flight system development, including command and control, telemetry handling, and subsystem interfaces.
- Support system integration and validation across spacecraft subsystems and ground systems.
- Design and implement automated testing frameworks for system-level validation.
- Participate in integration and test campaigns, including hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) and system-level testing.
- Collaborate with engineers to define and implement system interfaces across hardware and software boundaries.
- Write clean, maintainable, and well-documented code; participate in peer reviews.
- Contribute to improvements in development workflows, including CI/CD, testing infrastructure, and tooling.
- Assist in debugging complex issues spanning software, infrastructure, and hardware systems.
- Contribute to documentation for system behavior, interfaces, and test procedures.
Benefits
- Flexible Time Off, Sick, Family & Medical Leave
- Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, LTD, STD (employer funded)
- Vol Life, Critical Illness, Accidental, Hospital Indemnity, Pet Insurance (employee funded)
- 401k with 3% non-elective company contribution
- Stock Options
- Free Parking
- Free lunch in office daily
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Entry Level
Number of Employees
11-50 employees
