🚀 Senior / Principal Flight Software Engineer – Space Systems
*REMOTE*
Working with a leading U.S. aerospace company looking to add Senior and Principal-level Flight Software Engineers to their satellite team.
This is a hands-on role focused on building and testing embedded flight software for spacecraft, with exposure across the full mission lifecycle. from early concept through on-orbit operations.
What you’ll be doing:
- Develop and test embedded C/C++ flight software for satellite platforms
- Contribute across the full lifecycle:
- Requirements definition & trade studies
- Software architecture & development
- Integration with flight hardware
- Verification, validation, and operations
- Support GNC-related software integration and system performance analysis
- Build internal tools to evaluate flight software performance and mission compatibility
- Work closely with hardware, systems, and test teams in a highly collaborative environment
Testing & Integration:
- Execute testing across:
- Unit, module, and system levels
- Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) / FlatSat environments
- Develop test frameworks, tools, and ground support software
- Support debugging, validation, and anomaly resolution
Additional exposure:
- Contribute to modeling & simulation efforts
- Support new mission concepts and proposals
- Evaluate impacts of new hardware, architectures, and mission profiles
What they’re looking for:
- 9–15+ years of experience in software engineering (level dependent)
- Strong background in embedded software development (C/C++)
- Experience with flight software, avionics, or aerospace systems
- Hands-on experience with hardware/software integration and testing
- Exposure to one or more of the following:
- GNC algorithms
- RTOS (VxWorks, Integrity, etc.)
- Device drivers / BSP / bring-up
- HIL / simulation environments
- Software verification & validation
- Ability to operate as a high-level IC across multiple domains
Education:
- Bachelor’s degree in a STEM field required
- Master’s degree preferred - 7 years of experience
Travel:
- Up to ~20% travel (domestic)
- Occasional international collaboration
Quick take:
This is a high-impact IC role for engineers who want to stay deeply technical while working on cutting-edge spacecraft and flight software systems.
Top Skills
What We Do
Red Canyon Engineering and Software develops cutting-edge technology to help humankind explore space and other planets, as well as advanced renewable resources on Earth. We are proud to be involved with important missions ranging from searching for water on Mars, to analyzing the composition of distant comets, and building the next human spacecraft. Our clients include government agencies such as NASA, NOAA, NREL, JPL, and DOD, in addition to customers such as Lockheed Martin Space, Raytheon, Sierra Nevada Corporation, a.i. solutions, Walt Disney Imagineering, SAIC, Ball Aerospace, SpaceX, Honeywell, KBRwyle, Maxar, Blue Origin, and Moog. We are an SBA certified HUBZone and Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB).
