Flight Software Engineer

Wanna join the adventure?

The Loft Flight Software team provides the core on-orbit software that powers Loft’s Flight Products. This is responsible for monitoring and control of major space program elements including :

Flight Products computational environments (including physical and virtual processors); - Interfaces with RF communications equipment;

and - Interfaces with the spacecraft bus. The core flight software is used by other teams at Loft, including Mission Specific Software, to provide interfaces between Ground Software and customer payloads.

This includes virtual payloads which leverage available computing resources to enhance the value of payload elements already present on the vehicle.

The core flight software is responsible for delivering observability of all space program elements to the ground and collaborating on the infrastructure through which other teams at Loft, including the Integration team, are able to describe the logical structure of all telemetry and telecommands that have been implemented.

Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other marginalized people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications.

At Loft, we value respectful debate and people who aren’t afraid to challenge assumptions. We strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don’t check all the boxes.

About This Role (these activities are expected to be performed on a weekly basis) :

• Follow the software development process as documented;
• Develop code according to published style and design standards;
• Participate in code review of peer-authored code;
• Design and implement unit-tests for own and peer developed code;
• Write tickets describing work according to published standards;
• Move work tickets through the defined and appropriate workflows;
• Transition tickets to a resolved status;
• Create feature branches and push code to feature branches according to published guidelines;
• Merge approved code to production branches;
• Approve merge requests for Loft Flight Software classified at Level D; and
• Approve merge requests for Loft Flight Software classified at Level E.

These activities are expected to be performed as needed :

• Contribute to work related to trade-studies;
• Recommend trade-study criteria and weights;
• Participate in software development process review;
• Participate in software development process design; and
• Contribute to development of software design standards.

Must Haves :

• Languages : C / C++ (any version) and Python
• Development Process : Git (gitlab, bitbucket, github, jetbrains space), Ticketing (jira, redmine, mantis, trac, youtrack), Continuous integration (gitlab-ci, teamcity, jenkins, bamboo, travis), Build systems (make, cmake, autotools, bazel)
• Distributed Application Frameworks (one of the following) : Message Oriented middle-ware (DDS, MQTT, JMS), Message Queue Frameworks (ZMQ, NNG), CANOpen, Player / Stage, Remote Procedure Call systems (gRPC, CORBA, ACE), CCSDS MO, ECSS PUS
• Software Development Technologies : Networking (UDP, TCP, IP), POSIX, Multi-threaded applications
• Application Domains (one of the following) : Packet Serialization / deserialization, Data model serialization / deserialization (yaml, json, xml), Real-time metrics (rrdb, influxdb, prometheus)

Nice to Haves :

• Languages : C / C++11, 14, 17, Rust, Bash
• Embedded Linux Operation : Yocto, Device-tree, Systemd, Linux on ARM
• Development Process : Unit test frameworks (pytest, googletest, unity), Keyword driven test framework (robot, cucumber), Static analysis tools (clang, llvm, cppcheck), Source code linter (clang-format, parasoft)
• Application Domains (one of the following) : Middleware framework usage (ROS, OpenSplice, Leyly, Mosquitto), Embedded databases (sqlite, tiledb)

Some of Our Awesome Benefits :

• 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance option for employees and dependents
• Flexible Spending (FSA) and Health Savings (HSA) Accounts offered with an employer contribution to the HSA
• 100% employer paid Life, AD&D, Short-Term, and Long-Term Disability insurance
• Flexible Time Off policy for vacation and sick leave, and 12 paid holidays
• 401(k) plan and equity options
• Daily catered lunches and snacks
• International exposure to our team in France
• Fully paid parental leave; 14 weeks for primary caregiver and 10 weeks for secondary caregiver
• Carrot Fertility provides comprehensive, inclusive fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits with financial support
• Off-sites and many social events and celebrations
• Relocation assistance when applicable

$97,750 - $149,000 a year State law requires us to tell you the base compensation range for this role, which is $97,750 - $132,250 per year in Colorado and $110,000 - $149,000 per year in California, determined by your education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities.

The salary range for this role is intentionally wide as we evaluate individuals based on their unique experience and abilities to fit our needs.

Most importantly, we are excited to meet you, and see if you are a great fit for our team. What we can’t quantify for you are the exciting challenges, supportive team, and amazing culture we enjoy. Who We Are

Loft Orbital builds shareable satellites, providing a fast & simple path to orbit for organizations that require access to space.

Powered by our hardware & software products, we operate satellites, fly customer payloads onboard, and handle entire missions from end to end - significantly reducing the lead-time and risk of a traditional space mission.

Our standard interface enables us to fly multiple customer payloads on the same satellite, with capabilities such as earth imagery, weather & climate / science data collection, IoT connectivity, in-orbit demonstrations, and national security missions.

Our customers trust us to manage their space infrastructure, so they can focus on what matters most to them : operating their mission and collecting their data.

At Loft, you’ll be given the autonomy and ownership to solve significant challenges, but with a close-knit and supportive team at your back.

We believe that diversity and community are the foundation of an open culture. We are committed to hiring the best people regardless of background and make their time at Loft the most fulfilling period of their career.

We value kind, supportive and team-oriented collaborators. It is also crucial for us that you are a problem solver and a great communicator.

As our team is international, you will need strong English skills to better collaborate, easily communicate complex ideas and convey important messages.

With 3 satellites on-orbit and a wave of exciting missions launching soon, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA Golden, CO and Toulouse, France.

As an international company your resume will be reviewed by people across our offices so please attach a copy in English. Apply for this job