About the position
At Vast, our mission is to contribute to a future where billions of people are living and thriving in space. We are building artificial gravity space stations, allowing long-term stays in space without the adverse effects of zero-gravity. Our initial crewed space habitat will be Haven-1, scheduled to be the world's first commercial space station when it launches into low earth orbit in May 2026. Our team is all-in, committed to executing our mission safely and on time. If you want to work with the most talented people on Earth furthering space exploration for humanity, come join us. Vast is looking for a Staff Flight Software Engineer, reporting to Senior Manager, Flight Software, to help implement software for Haven-1. You will develop fault-tolerant code for safety-critical systems, and work closely with the avionics team to integrate flight code with avionics hardware. Most importantly, you will work as part of a team that believes that finding and fixing errors is a positive experience that will make everyone's work better, and makes the team stronger as we continuously improve our processes and products. This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location.
Responsibilities
- Work with the Flight Software team to create highly reliable flight software for all Haven missions
- Work cross functionally with all other disciplines GNC, Thermal, Propulsion, Power, and ECLSS to support algorithm implementation and integration into the flight software
- Assess and critique code, ensuring adherence to best practices and established standards, in code reviews
- Develop driver-level code to interface with radios, sensors, and actuators onboard for all Haven missions
- Develop and maintain the Telemetry and Commanding Systems which will be used to communicate with our vehicles
- Develop unit and integrated tests, and establish continuous integration framework for flight
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering or other engineering discipline
- 10+ years of experience coding in C++
Nice-to-haves
- Fault-tolerant and safety-critical software design
- Experience developing software for complex systems such as spacecraft, aircraft or autonomous vehicles
- Experience working in a continuous build and test environment
- Experience with Embedded Systems
- Experience working with satellite communications or telemetry systems
- Hands-on experience with serial protocols such as UART, CAN, I2C, SPI, and/or Ethernet (TCP/UDP)
- Understanding of Linux kernel software and drivers
- Network programming experience
- Familiarity with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and digital multimeters
- Familiarity with the Atlassian Suite (JIRA, Bitbucket, Confluence)
- Familiarity with Git, Cmake, and GNU tools
- Able to work in a Linux environment
Benefits
- 100% medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents
- Flexible paid time off for exempt staff and up to 10 days of vacation for non-exempt staff
- Paid parental leave
- Short and long-term disability insurance
- Life insurance
- Access to a 401(k) retirement plan
- One Medical membership
- ClassPass credits
- Personalized mental healthcare through Spring Health
- Other discounts and perks
- Exceptional food perks, with snacks, drip coffee, cold drinks, and dinner meals remaining free of charge, and lunch subsidized
