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Salary: USD 130,000 - 185,000 / annual
Cowboy Space Corporation is building space-based solar energy infrastructure to solve the global energy crisis. The company develops modular, scalable satellites that collect sunlight in Low Earth Orbit and transmit energy via infrared lasers (space-to-earth and space-to-space), power on-orbit high-performance computing clusters, and provide secure optical data transport. Founded in 2024 by Baiju Bhatt (co-founder of Robinhood), the company has raised ~$365 million from top-tier investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The team includes veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Astranis, and NASA.
As an Embedded Software Engineer, you will own real-time software for spacecraft subsystems including power distribution, thermal control, and related avionics boards. This is a high-ownership role spanning the full lifecycle: board bring-up, driver and application development, hardware/software debugging, and supporting reliable firmware updates for hardware in the field and on orbit. After ramp-up, you'll be the standing owner of a meaningful piece of the embedded software stack.
Key responsibilities include: designing and developing real-time embedded software for microcontroller-based avionics boards in FreeRTOS and bare-metal environments; implementing low-level drivers, peripheral interfaces, and real-time control loops; building software supporting board bring-up and safe, robust in-field and in-flight firmware update mechanisms; integrating with command and telemetry infrastructure; working at the software-to-hardware boundary (reading schematics, understanding pinouts, diagnosing issues); building robust, fault-tolerant systems with attention to reliability and performance in constrained environments; supporting hardware integration and HITL testing; developing automated test frameworks; collaborating with electrical, avionics, and software teams on system architecture; investigating anomalies and performing root cause analysis; and contributing to system-level design including fault detection, isolation, and recovery strategies.
Requirements: 3+ years of embedded software or firmware development experience; strong C/C++ programming skills for embedded systems; experience developing for embedded microcontrollers in RTOS-based (e.g., FreeRTOS) and/or bare-metal environments; comfort working at the hardware boundary with schematics, JTAG, oscilloscopes, and logic analyzers; experience with hardware/software integration and board bring-up; ability to own a subsystem independently after ramp-up.
Preferred qualifications: Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field; embedded software experience in aerospace, automotive, robotics, or high-reliability systems; experience with embedded communication protocols (SPI, I2C, UART, CAN) and networking stacks; experience building firmware update and bootloader systems for deployed/remote hardware; understanding of fault-tolerant design and high-reliability system architecture; HITL testing and system validation experience; Python or scripting for test automation; interest in Rust for embedded development; experience in fast-paced, high-ownership environments; exposure to radiation-tolerant design for space systems.
Note: ITAR compliance required—applicants must be U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, or eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.
