Founding Flight Software Engineer

About the role

Job Title: Founding Flight Software Engineer

Company Overview

We design and deliver resilient, high-performance spacecrafts that safeguard critical orbital assets and ensure freedom of action in space. We integrate advanced autonomy, sensing, and control into systems engineered for reliability, speed, and scale. Our culture values simplicity, accountability, and disciplined execution — empowering every engineer to think systemically, act decisively, and build with purpose. Aggressive innovation. Disciplined execution. Strength among the stars.

Team / Department

You will join our Engineering Division, responsible for the design, development, and test of flight systems across our autonomous spacecraft portfolio.

The Role

We are seeking a Founding Flight Software Engineer. As part of our early engineering team, your scope of work will focus on developing and integrating the flight software stack end-to-end — spanning ground-side mission operations tools, and vehicle-side embedded software. You’ll work closely with avionics, GNC, and systems engineers to help bring our vehicle from concept to flight.

Key Responsibilities

Build mission operations software — the ground tools that plan, execute, and monitor missions in real time.

Develop and integrate flight software for the vehicle — from architecture and implementation to test and flight readiness.

Develop ground software services for telemetry, commanding, and visualization.

Write embedded software for flight computers, sensors, and actuators.

Collaborate with avionics, propulsion, and GNC teams to define software interfaces and data models.

Contribute to flight software CI/CD pipelines, testing frameworks, and simulation environments.

Support software-in-the-loop testing, hardware-in-the-loop testing, environmental testing, and flight campaigns.

Qualifications & Skills

B.S. Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical, or other sciences and/or physics based degree

Prior experience in systems and mission operations software

Experience with ground software, mission ops, or telemetry/command systems.

Experience with space systems - rovers, satellites, launch vehicles, etc.

Familiarity developing embedded software for real-time or safety-critical systems (aerospace, robotics, automotive, or similar).

Exposure to DevOps for embedded systems and automated testing pipelines.

Familiarity with hardware-in-the-loop, fault tolerance, and safety-critical standards.

Experience with cloud-based ground systems or mission control software

Due to ITAR requirements, candidates must have a U.S. Citizenship and ability to obtain or have an active TS/SCI clearance (US Person considered)

Why Us?

Join a small, high-impact team developing the next generation of autonomous orbital control systems for national security space. Here engineers own the full lifecycle — from concept through flight — shaping the future of trusted, resilient spacecraft autonomy.

Job Type & Location

This is a Permanent position based out of Torrance, CA.

Pay And Benefits

The pay range for this position is $130000.00 - $240000.00/yr.

Individual compensation offered for this position within this range will depend on many factors, including qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, geographic location, internal equity, and other pertinent job-related factors.

Healthcare, dental, vision, HSA, 401k, etc.

Workplace Type

This is a fully onsite position in Torrance,CA.

Application Deadline

This position is anticipated to close on Sep 9, 2026.

About Actalent

Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 20,000 consultants and 5,000 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500. We are proud to be an Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firm for our engineering design services and a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing® winner for both client and talent service.

The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.

If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification or adjustment of the job application process or interviewing process due to a disability, please email actalentaccommodation@actalentservices.com for other accommodation options.

San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, for all positions located in the city and county of San Francisco, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Massachusetts Lie Detector: It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our hiring process, including sourcing, screening, and evaluating candidates. AI helps assess applications and qualifications, but final decisions are made by our hiring team. By applying, you acknowledge and agree that your application may be reviewed using AI tools.