Senior Embedded Software Engineer

K2 Space • Los Angeles, CA

9h

About The Position

K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by $450M from leading investors and an additional $500M in signed contracts, K2 is mass-producing high-power satellite platforms for missions from LEO to deep space. The company believes the rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft, engineered to survive harsh radiation environments and capitalize on massive rockets, delivering unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits. With multiple launches planned through 2026 and 2027, K2 aims to develop the solar system and become a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. The company encourages motivated individuals who thrive in a fast-paced environment and are excited about contributing to a groundbreaking Series C space startup to apply. The Senior Embedded Software Engineer will develop and enhance low-level embedded software across the satellite platform, working closely with custom hardware to bring spacecraft to life, from initial hardware bring-up through fully integrated, flight-ready systems. This role involves building embedded software that interfaces directly with sensors, actuators, and critical spacecraft subsystems, including propulsion, attitude control, and power. The work will primarily be written in Rust and deployed on microcontrollers, requiring strong fundamentals in real-time systems, resource-constrained environments, and fault-tolerant design.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience developing embedded software in either Rust, C, or C++, targeting microcontrollers (ARM, RISC-V, or similar).
• Strong understanding of your favorite microcontroller’s memory subsystem, instruction pipeline, interrupt and DMA controller.
• Experience collaborating with hardware engineering teams.
• Demonstrated ability to debug complex hardware/firmware issues.

Nice To Haves

• Experience using Rust in hard real-time systems, either bare-metal or RTOS environments.
• Experience developing peripheral drivers without use of the vendor’s software.
• Experience with spacecraft flight software development.
• Experience maintaining embedded software across multiple product revisions.
• Experience with software verification and testing methods.
• Experience with software and network performance analysis and debugging.
• Experience with fault tolerant software design and implementation.
• Experience defining, creating, and maintaining test systems for both hardware-in-the-loop and hardware-out-of-the-loop.

Responsibilities

• Create embedded software architecture for real-time, fault tolerant control of a 20kW+ spacecraft.
• Develop embedded software for new hardware integrated throughout the satellite.
• Extend embedded software applications for managing hardware on some of the largest satellites that have ever flown.
• Scale embedded software across different satellite products by building software infrastructure and development processes.
• Debug complex HW/FW issues using traditional debug tools (JTAG/SWD, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes), and custom debug hooks both on the ground and in orbiting satellites.
• Mentor a diverse team of software engineers and instill embedded software best practices.

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, medical/dental/vision/ coverage, life insurance, paid parental leave, and many other perks
• equity in the company

What This Job Offers

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