Spacecraft Flight Software Engineer P2 – Space Systems

Oceaneering • Houston, TX

2d • Onsite

About The Position

This role is for a Spacecraft Flight Software Engineer P2 within the Space Systems division, supporting NASA as an Oceaneering Teammate on the JSC Engineering, Technology, and Science (JETS) II contract. The position is within the Software Engineering II and Dev Ops section of the Engineering Department. The role offers an opportunity to work on human spaceflight and deep space exploration programs, ensuring services meet and exceed standards. The ideal candidate is detail-oriented, committed to quality, thrives in a diverse environment, communicates effectively, possesses genuine curiosity, and desires growth and continuous learning. A Bachelor's degree in Engineering and a minimum of 2 years of experience are typically required, but the position can be hired at any level depending on business needs. International travel may be required. A 9/80 work schedule (every other Friday off) is possible, along with straight time overtime.

Requirements

• Typically requires a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Computer, Software, Electrical, Aerospace) from an accredited engineering school with a minimum of 2 years of experience in the field or related area.
• 5 years professional experience developing real-time, safety-critical embedded software (aerospace or comparable high-reliability domains).
• Proficiency in C/C++ for embedded systems and experience with real-time OS frameworks (RTEMS, VxWorks, cFS, or equivalent).
• Ability to implement deterministic scheduling, rate group execution, interrupt handling, low-level drivers, and subsystem interfaces.
• Experience with flight hardware integration, avionics benches, HWIL environments, or distributed lab systems.
• Familiarity with software safety and assurance principles (NASA STD 8739.8, NPR 7150.2 or similar safety-critical standards).
• Experience developing, refactoring, or maintaining mission-critical code bases, including requirements traceability, design documentation, and verification artifacts.
• Ability to support fault management, redundancy logic, mode transitions, safe mode behaviors, and emergency/abort response sequences.
• Proficiency with Python for tooling, test automation, analysis scripts, or verification utilities.
• Strong problem-solving ability, technical clarity, and communication skills suitable for NASA engineering and certification environments.
• Ability to work effectively in multidisciplinary engineering teams and participate in subsystem integration discussions.
• Willingness to work onsite at NASA JSC and complete Government background investigations.
• U.S. Citizenship or U.S. Permanent Residency required.

Nice To Haves

• Hands-on work with human-rated flight software (Orion, ISS, CCP, Gateway, Shuttle, or commercial crew vehicles).
• Experience with flight software refactoring, architectural modernization, or migrating legacy modules into updated frameworks.
• Exposure to fault-tolerant architectures, redundancy management, and high-reliability communication buses (1553, SpaceWire, Ethernet/CDH).
• Familiarity with formal verification, static analysis tools, and software safety audits.
• Experience supporting integrated test events, mission simulations, SIL/HWIL campaigns, or operational readiness events.
• Understanding of GNC algorithms, avionics sequencing, or subsystem-specific behaviors (power, thermal, ECLSS, comm, docking).
• Knowledge of DevOps pipelines, CI/CD workflows, or automated test frameworks for embedded systems.
• Prior experience working within NASA JSC engineering processes, configuration management environments, and program review cycles (SRR/PDR/CDR).
• Ability to create technical documentation, interface control descriptions, and certification artifacts for flight readiness.

Responsibilities

• Supports development, refactoring, integration, and sustainment of human-rated flight software for NASA’s Space vehicle under the JETS II contract.
• Implements, modernizes, and verifies embedded flight software to ensure crew safety, vehicle operability, and mission execution across all phases of human spaceflight.
• Works closely with NASA discipline leads to evolve Orion’s flight software architecture.
• Integrates subsystem updates.
• Participates in hardware-in-the-loop testing.
• Delivers certifiable Class A software aligned with NASA’s safety and assurance standards.
• Develops deterministic C/C++ code.
• Refactors legacy modules.
• Supports subsystem interface updates.
• Contributes to fault management logic improvements.
• Participates in verification campaigns.
• Analyzes anomalies.
• Ensures software readiness for flight certification.

Benefits

• Proof of U.S. Citizenship or US Permanent Residency is a requirement for this position.
• Must be able to complete a U.S. government background investigation.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level