The Role
Design, implement, validate, and maintain onboard image-processing and computer vision algorithms for spacecraft on microcontroller-class hardware. Collaborate with avionics, flight software, GNC, test, and mission teams to define performance requirements, build test tools and simulations, debug sensor bring-up and flight operations, and ensure robustness within constrained compute, memory, timing, and power budgets.
Summary Generated by Built In
As an Embedded Software Engineer for Image Processing Algorithms at Impulse, your primary responsibility will be to design, implement, validate, and maintain onboard image processing software for spacecraft systems. You will work at the intersection of embedded software, imaging sensors, numerical algorithms, estimation, and guidance, navigation, and control systems. You will collaborate closely with avionics, flight software, GNC, test, and mission operations teams to deliver reliable image processing software capable of operating on microcontroller-class hardware in demanding space environments.
Responsibilities
- Develop onboard computer vision algorithms for image preprocessing, thresholding, filtering, centroiding, feature extraction, target detection, target tracking, optical navigation, star detection, and attitude or pose estimation support.
- Support image conditioning techniques such as calibration, distortion correction, dark-frame correction, thresholding, exposure control, filtering, and image normalization.
- Work with GNC, flight software, and mission teams to define algorithm performance requirements, including accuracy, latency, update rate, robustness, fault tolerance, and compute/resource constraints.
- Develop test tools, simulation environments, and analysis scripts to evaluate algorithm performance using synthetic imagery, lab imagery, ground test data, and flight-like datasets.
- Debug and tune vision software during sensor bring-up, ground testing, environmental testing, and in-flight operations.
- Contribute to fault detection, robustness, and recovery logic for cases such as poor lighting, stray light, saturation, blur, dropped frames, hot pixels, occlusions, image noise, and unexpected scene content.
- Design algorithms and data pipelines that operate within constrained CPU, memory, storage, bandwidth, timing, and power budgets.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical field.
- 2+ years of experience writing C++ code for embedded systems, preferably in imaging or robotic applications.
- Experience implementing image processing, estimation, numerical, or signal processing algorithms.
- Experience with bare-metal or RTOS-based software development.
Preferred Skills and Experience
- Ability to work closely with hardware, flight software, GNC, and test teams to diagnose issues across software, sensors, timing, image quality, and system interfaces.
- Experience optimizing software for runtime, memory usage, deterministic execution, and numerical stability.
- Familiarity with low-level hardware interfaces such as SPI, I2C, UART, GPIO, timers, ADCs, DMA, and camera or image sensor interfaces.
- Strong understanding of linear algebra, coordinate frames, rotations, quaternions, camera models, or geometric vision concepts.
- Experience debugging embedded systems using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, hardware debuggers, source-level debuggers, logs, and telemetry.
- Hands-on experience developing or testing computer vision, optical navigation, star tracker, pose estimation, target tracking, inspection, or perception algorithms on microcontroller-class hardware.
Additional Information:
Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.
Impulse Space’s spacecraft manufacturing business is subject to U.S. export regulations including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This position requires applicants to be either U.S. Persons (i.e., U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent U.S. resident (green card holder), an individual granted asylum in the U.S., or an individual admitted in U.S. refugee status) or persons eligible to obtain an export license from the U.S. Departments of State, Commerce, or other applicable U.S. government agencies. Learn more about the ITAR here.
Impulse Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Impulse Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
About
Impulse Space, the in-space transportation company founded by Tom Mueller, is opening access beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with its fleet of in-space transportation vehicles. The high-energy Helios vehicle unlocks orbits beyond LEO with its powerful Deneb engine, dropping off payloads in MEO, GEO, heliocentric, lunar, and other planetary orbits. The flight-proven Mira vehicle uses a nontoxic, high-impulse chemical propulsion system to offer orbital transport, constellation deployment, and precision reentry services to customers throughout LEO. Led by a team that delivered the most reliable rockets in history, Impulse provides economical and efficient in-space transportation by reliably and rapidly getting customers where they want to go.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field
- 2+ years of experience writing C++ code for embedded systems (preferably imaging or robotics)
- Experience implementing image processing, estimation, numerical, or signal processing algorithms
- Experience with bare-metal or RTOS-based software development
- Ability to work closely with hardware, flight software, GNC, and test teams to diagnose cross-domain issues
- Experience optimizing software for runtime, memory usage, deterministic execution, and numerical stability
- Familiarity with low-level hardware interfaces (SPI, I2C, UART, GPIO, timers, ADCs, DMA, camera/image sensor interfaces)
- Strong understanding of linear algebra, coordinate frames, rotations, quaternions, camera models, or geometric vision
- Experience debugging embedded systems using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, hardware debuggers, source-level debuggers, logs, and telemetry
- Hands-on experience developing or testing computer vision, optical navigation, star tracker, pose estimation, or target tracking algorithms on microcontroller-class hardware
- Must be a U.S. Person or eligible to obtain an export license under U.S. export regulations (ITAR/EAR)
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The Company
What We Do
Impulse enables low-cost and nimble last-mile space payload delivery - access any orbit, reach other worlds.
