Senior Flight Software Engineer

Planet•San Francisco, CA

3d•$162,600 - $203,200•Hybrid

About The Position

Planet’s Flight Software Team develops and maintains embedded software for its Superdove, Skysat, Pelican, and Tanager satellite fleets. The software spans navigation and avionics, payload control, radio software, and supporting tools and infrastructure, and operates on spacecraft in orbit. The team collaborates with engineering, operations, manufacturing, and other groups to deliver reliable solutions for Planet’s missions. For the Superdove platform, the Senior Flight Software Engineer leads ongoing software development, verification, and on-orbit anomaly escalation. The engineer builds a deep understanding of existing flight software and its interactions with hardware, firmware, Satellite Operations, and the low-Earth-orbit environment. They work with domain experts to improve flight software, support new requirements and circuit designs, and use Mission Control and telemetry to understand software behavior at orbital scale. The role also partners with Manufacturing and Manufacturing Test to support satellite builds and system integration, and works across Space Systems to improve platform efficiency and productivity. This is a full-time hybrid role requiring work from Planet’s San Francisco office three days per week.

Requirements

Experience with Ubuntu and/or Debian Linux distributions.
Experience with embedded C, with or without an RTOS; STM32 experience is preferred.
Experience with C and C++ application code on UNIX/Linux.
Knowledge of Python 3 and Python 2.
Bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a similar field, or equivalent work experience.
Ability to use lab equipment such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and voltmeters to investigate software and system behavior.
At least 6 years of experience designing and developing software systems.
Ability to maintain existing systems, analyze system performance using data, and investigate complex system behaviors.

Nice To Haves

Experience using Linux in embedded environments such as kiosk or vehicle platforms.
Knowledge of 8051 microprocessors.
Experience using FPGAs and/or software that interfaces with FPGA designs.
Understanding of PC architecture, including BIOS/EFI, PCIe and USB peripheral interfaces, and SATA and EMMC storage.
Experience maintaining and/or operating a deployed fleet of embedded systems with telemetry and other observability features.
Experience with STM32 embedded C.

Responsibilities

Develop improved software systems for the Superdove spacecraft.
Identify and implement opportunities to improve efficiency and productivity.
Learn existing systems with flight software experts, gather improvement ideas, plan long-term projects, and deliver sustained value.
Build automated testing to increase confidence in flight software quality.
Collaborate with Missions Systems, Satellite Operations, Satellite Security, Systems Engineering, Ground Station Operations, and other teams to ensure flight software meets customer needs.
Partner with Manufacturing and Manufacturing Test teams to streamline satellite builds and system integration.
Lead ongoing development, verification, and on-orbit anomaly escalation for the Superdove platform.
Use Mission Control and telemetry to understand software behavior on an orbital scale.
Work with domain experts in RF, ADCS, EE, FPGA, and Flight Software to design and implement software improvements and support new requirements and circuit designs.