Senior Software Engineer, Temporary

Viasat, Inc. • Carlsbad, CA

10d • Onsite

About The Position

The System Software team develops and maintains the foundational operating system layer for AlmaLinux-based embedded Mobility Access Servers (MAS), which support inflight Wi-Fi and streaming services. The role spans the software stack from bootloader through application services, including storage health, container orchestration, CI/CD pipelines, security hardening, and investigation of incidents affecting deployed systems. When production issues occur on aircraft, the team investigates causes and delivers fixes.

This is a site-based role requiring employees to work at least three days (60% or more) per week from a Viasat office or work location within a standard five-day workweek. Travel may be up to 10%.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering.
• At least 5 years of hands-on experience using C, C++, Rust, Go, Bash, or Python in embedded environments.
• Hands-on experience with object-oriented methodology and development.
• Proficiency in Linux system administration, including systemd service lifecycle, boot process debugging, and log-based forensics using tools such as journalctl and syslog.
• Experience with Docker and/or container orchestration technologies such as Kubernetes or k3s.
• Experience investigating and debugging field incidents and production system failures, including interpreting system logs, correlating events across services, and identifying root causes.
• Experience developing and delivering software using CI/CD and DevOps practices.
• Familiarity with development and infrastructure tools including Git, GitHub, Docker, HashiCorp Vault, and artifact management platforms such as Artifactory.
• Ability to champion modern software practices and uphold software quality standards throughout development.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to evaluate software architecture and design, including existing codebases.
• Ability to perform tests using a requirement-based testing approach.
• Familiarity with AI coding tools such as GitHub Copilot.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with Linux distributions and embedded-optimized frameworks such as AlmaLinux, OpenWRT, Yocto, or Buildroot.
• Deep understanding of bootloader and application bring-up processes.
• Experience orchestrating and optimizing CPU, memory, and disk resources using tools such as cgroups and MGLRU.
• Deep familiarity with ZFS storage management, including pool creation and recovery, persistent device naming (udev/wwn), disk failure mode analysis, and systemd unit integration for storage subsystem services.
• Kubernetes and Helm chart authoring for containerized service deployment on embedded hardware.
• Familiarity with infrastructure and security tools such as HashiCorp Vault, Jenkins, Artifactory, Git, GitHub, and GitHub Actions.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to software engineering as part of an agile development team.
• Design and drive software architecture for a Linux-based operating system and custom support applications, including REST, hardware interfaces, ARINC controllers, cellular device controllers, and low-level driver support.
• Design, develop, and test supported software products.
• Maintain and improve CI/CD systems, with a focus on GitHub Actions, Artifactory, Vault, and GitHub.
• Improve and implement virtual and bare-metal testing to identify issues before production.
• Debug and investigate production system failures using log analysis tools and field data from live aircraft deployments.
• Manage and maintain ZFS storage pools, disk health monitoring, and storage subsystem reliability.
• Develop, deploy, and maintain containerized services using Docker and k3s on embedded hardware.
• Improve security posture through secret and key rotation, file integrity monitoring, and remediation of penetration test findings.
• Participate in code reviews to deliver quality products in the short and long term.
• Travel up to 10%.

Benefits

• Medical, financial, and other benefits are available, dependent on the position offered.
• Additional cash or stock incentives may be provided as part of the compensation package.

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Senior