Job Description
Spacecraft Flight Computing Engineer The Opportunity We are supporting a
well-funded space company developing a
human-rated spacecraft with real flight hardware, real missions, and real technical ownership.
This role sits on a
small, elite Flight Computing team responsible for the design and implementation of the spacecraft's computing architecture - from custom flight computers through operating systems, low-level software, and fault-tolerant behavior.
This is
not a traditional flight software role layered on top of vendor avionics. The team designs the computers, defines the operating environment, and owns how the system behaves under real-world faults.
You would work directly with the engineer who
architected the fault-tolerant computing and networking systems for Falcon 9 and Dragon , including the hardware that interfaces with the International Space Station.
What You'll Work On - Designing and implementing spacecraft flight computing systems with full hardware/software ownership
- Developing and tuning low-level software across bootloaders, operating systems, and device drivers
- Building fault-tolerant behavior that allows systems to continue operating through anomalies
- Working closely with custom flight computer hardware designed in-house
- Defining how compute, timing, and networking behave across spacecraft subsystems
- Participating in system bring-up, integration, debugging, and mission support
- Collaborating with a small group of highly capable engineers who value first-principles design
What We're Looking For We are open to
exceptional engineers at multiple experience levels , provided they have strong fundamentals and real technical depth.
Strong indicators include:
- Deep experience with C/C++ in low-level or systems contexts
- Background in embedded systems , firmware, kernel-level Linux, or RTOS-based development
- Comfort working close to hardware (bring-up, debugging, timing, fault analysis)
- Experience designing or supporting real-time or safety-critical systems
- Engineers who build things because they're curious - not just because it's assigned
Prior spacecraft experience is
not required . Engineers from adjacent domains (embedded systems, automotive safety, robotics, compute infrastructure, etc.) are welcome if they bring the right depth and mindset.
What Makes This Different - Small, senior technical team - no large hierarchies, no busywork
- Minimal legacy code - engineers are empowered to fix or redesign what doesn't make sense
- Modern, high-performance compute platforms , not legacy aerospace hardware
- Real authority over architecture and implementation decisions
- Direct mentorship and collaboration with one of the most experienced flight computing architects in the industry
- A rare blend of startup-level autonomy with the resources of a major space program
Location & Eligibility - Based in the South Bay / Greater Los Angeles area
- Candidates must be U.S. persons due to regulatory requirements
- Relocation support may be available
Interested? If you're excited by the idea of
building spacecraft computers the right way - with real ownership, real impact, and real technical peers - we'd welcome a conversation.
Job Tags
Relocation package