Lead Flight Software Engineer
Hybrid (Reading, UK)Full-timePosted 11mo ago
About the role
Lead the team responsible for the software that makes the spacecraft behave, designing and implementing robust flight-software services on RTOS or Embedded Linux, and guiding from simulation to launch and on-orbit operations.
Responsibilities
- Lead the flight software engineering team – recruit, coach, and direct the work of a team of software engineers to deliver the flight software elements of a novel spacecraft to operate in VLEO.
- Own the on-board flight-software stack – design, implement and test real-time C/C++ on RTOS or Embedded Linux
- Integrate subsystems end-to-end – define ICDs and build drivers/middleware over I2C/SPI/UART/CAN(-FD)/SpaceWire (as applicable).
- Build spacecraft behaviors & autonomy – implement mode management, sequencing, and autonomous FDIR for safe and productive operations.
- Deliver reliable real-time performance – manage concurrency, timing, CPU/memory budgets, and observability under tight constraints.
- Build verification infrastructure – prototypes, SIL/HIL test harnesses, simulations, and telemetry analysis tooling to validate designs early.
- Ship code from review to orbit – push through CI/CD, support integration and launch ops, and deliver secure over-the-air updates.
- Work across disciplines – collaborate with avionics, AOCS, comms and mission teams to trade compute, power, thermal, storage and link budgets.
Qualifications
- 5+ years’ experience in development of flight software for spacecraft, including experience in leading engineers with flight software deliverables.
- Proven experience in building production embedded or real-time systems in C/C++ and/or Rust on RTOS or Embedded Linux for space systems.
- Strong grasp of real-time software: scheduling, interrupts, concurrency primitives, determinism, and designing for constrained CPU/memory.
- Proven ability to build reliable, testable systems: unit/integration testing, simulation-first development, HIL validation, and disciplined debugging.
- Hands-on experience integrating with hardware via common interfaces (I2C, SPI, UART, CAN(-FD), GPIO, etc.) and practical lab debugging.
- Solid software engineering fundamentals: architecture, code review, static analysis, CI/CD, configuration management, and observability/logging.
- Ability to own systems end-to-end: from requirements and design through implementation, verification, operations support, and iterative improvement.
Skills
Required:Flight software developmentEmbedded/RTOS/Linux real-time programmingHardware integrationSoftware engineering fundamentals
Benefits
- Hybrid working – One dedicated remote day per week.
- Equity and competitive salary
- Comprehensive benefits - Private health insurance with dental and optical cover, and annual health check-ups.
- Visa sponsorship and relocation support for candidates joining us.
Last updated Oct 8, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
About NewOrbit Space
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