Flight Software Engineer

EraDrive • Palo Alto, CA

2d

About The Position

EraDrive builds autonomy software and hardware for spacecraft, and its Era-Node payload supports optical positioning, navigation, and timing. The Flight Software Engineer will own the architecture, implementation, and verification of Era-Node’s flight software. The role works closely with guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) engineers and embedded software engineers, and serves as the technical authority for how the flight software is structured, built, tested, and updated.

Requirements

• At least 5 years of professional experience in flight software for satellite buses or satellite payloads.
• Strong C++ and C skills on embedded Linux, including PREEMPT_RT or comparable real-time configurations, device drivers, and boot and update flows.
• Hands-on experience with a flight software framework such as cFS or F´, or experience designing command and data handling software from scratch.
• Experience with fault management, telemetry and command design, and interface control documents.
• Experience with software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop testing.
• Ability to read and integrate research-grade code written by scientists and engineers.
• Clear technical writing and communication skills.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with space environment effects on software, such as radiation-induced faults and mitigation.
• Familiarity with CCSDS standards.
• Experience integrating star trackers, cameras, or precision timing hardware.
• Background in orbital mechanics or spacecraft GNC.

Responsibilities

• Define and document the flight software architecture, including the framework or executive it is built on, and the reasoning behind the choices.
• Design core services for command and telemetry, data management, event and message handling, timing, and health monitoring.
• Design and implement fault detection, isolation, and recovery procedures, including mode management and safe-mode behavior.
• Define and maintain interface control documents for Era-Node’s integration with the host spacecraft and onboard avionics.
• Maintain the continuous integration pipeline and software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop test environments.
• Set and enforce coding standards for deterministic, bounded-resource flight code through continuous integration.
• Package and integrate the software with the host platform, coordinating with GNC engineers responsible for algorithm flight code and embedded engineers responsible for hardware-to-software interfaces.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed