Relativity Space

Senior Flight Software Engineer

Relativity Space$154K — $230K *
Aerospace & Defense
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Undergraduate or graduate degree in Engineering or Computer Science-related field.
  • 5+ years of experience in production-level development.
  • Proficient in Rust, C++, or similar system programming languages.
  • Strong grasp of Linux OS concepts: memory management, CPU shielding, and scheduling.
  • Skilled in TCP/IP and UDP networking.
  • Familiarity with software development tools: source control, bug tracking, and CI/CD processes.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the development of core flight software for the Terran R.
  • Architect software focusing on performance, latency, and control requirements.
  • Collaborate with GNC engineers for vehicle ascent and descent algorithms integration.
  • Work with Embedded Software and Avionics teams on sensor data integration.
  • Develop a telemetry system for efficient data handling and transmission.
  • Establish testing infrastructure including HITL and HOOTL simulations.
  • Define processes and best practices to enhance team velocity and mentor junior engineers.

Benefits

  • Competitive salary and equity packages.
  • Generous PTO and sick leave policies.
  • Parental leave included in benefits.
  • Annual stipend for learning and development activities.
Full Job Description
About the Team:

The Vehicle Software team develops the safety-critical software that runs on Terran R. The work spans a distributed, real-time control system operating under extreme conditions like Mach 5 atmospheric flight, with a deployment pace that allows you to see your code run on rocket engines daily. The team is building new system architecture from the ground up and just as importantly, testing, releasing, and deploying it. You don't need an aerospace background: what matters is experience with high-reliability software for complex systems. This is a rare opportunity to shape the foundation of Terran R's software stack while directly influencing performance, reliability, and flight success.

About the Role:

Aerospace experience isn't required. We value driven engineers with strong computer science fundamental who collaborate well to solve meaningful problems. As a Senior Flight Software Engineer, you will be a technical leader within the team with a high level of autonomy tackling core flight software products that directly impact the Terran R program and be responsible for setting standards and best practices for the team along with mentoring junior engineers. Architect and deliver core flight software with a strong focus on meeting system and performance requirements such as latency, allowed jitter, and control frequency. Work closely with GNC engineers to integrate complex algorithms for vehicle ascent and re-entry, descent and landing. Work closely with Embedded Software Engineers and Avionics to integrate vehicle sensor data such as GPS, IMU, Radar, and to control vehicle equipment such as valves, thrust vector controls, and landing grid fins. Develop telemetry system that prioritizes, filters, stores and forwards, and encodes/decodes telemetry to RF format, and routes that data through ground stations and to data centers. Support the development and integration of testing infrastructure such as HITL (Hardware-In-The-Loop) and HOOTL (Hardware-Out-Of-The-Loop) and physics and fluid sims. Focus on maximizing the team's velocity by defining processes, best practices, integrating modern tools and technologies, and mentoring junior engineers.

About You:
  • An undergraduate or graduate degree in a relevant engineering discipline (Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering) with 5+ years experience of production development experience
  • Experience delivering production-level and high reliability software
  • Expert in Rust, C++, and/or other system languages, as well as algorithms and data structures
  • Expert in Linux Operating System concepts such as memory management, CPU shielding, scheduling, etc
  • Expert in networking concepts such as TCP/IP, UDP
  • Experience with software development processes including: source control, bug tracking, and CI/CD

Nice to haves but not required:
  • Experience with systems-level programming like synchronization primitives, memory management, etc.
  • Experience with different inter-process communication methods
  • Experience with message passing protocol such as flatbuffer or protobuf


At Relativity Space, we are committed to transparency and fairness in our compensation practices. Actual compensation will be determined based on experience, qualifications, and other job-related factors.

Compensation is only one part of our total rewards package. Relativity Space offers competitive salary and equity, a generous PTO and sick leave policy, parental leave, an annual learning and development stipend, and more! To see some of the benefits & perks we offer, please visit here.

Hiring Range:

$154,000-$230,000 USD

About Relativity Space

Relativity Space is an American aerospace manufacturer that is developing 3D printed rockets. The company was founded in 2015 by Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone, and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Relativity Space's goal is to reduce the cost and time required to produce rockets by using 3D printing technology. The company's rockets are designed to be fully reusable, which could significantly reduce the cost of space launches. Relativity Space has received funding from a number of investors, including Mark Cuban and Playground Global.
Learn more about Relativity Space
Size
200 employees
Industry
Founded
2016

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