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Salary: USD 180,000 - 250,000 / annual
Fortastra designs and delivers resilient, high-performance spacecraft for critical orbital assets and national security space applications. The company recently raised $8M in seed capital and is led by former Hermeus co-founder Mike Smayda.
You will join Fortastra's Engineering Division as Head of Flight Software, responsible for developing and integrating the flight software stack end-to-end. Your scope spans ground-side mission operations tools and vehicle-side embedded software. You'll work closely with avionics, guidance/navigation/control (GNC), and systems engineers to bring the autonomous spacecraft from concept through flight.
Key responsibilities include:
- Building mission operations software — ground tools that plan, execute, and monitor missions in real time
- Developing and integrating flight software for the vehicle, from architecture and implementation to test and flight readiness
- Developing ground software services for telemetry, commanding, and visualization
- Writing embedded software for flight computers, sensors, and actuators
- Collaborating with avionics, propulsion, and GNC teams to define software interfaces and data models
- Contributing to flight software CI/CD pipelines, testing frameworks, and simulation environments
- Supporting software-in-the-loop testing, hardware-in-the-loop testing, environmental testing, and flight campaigns
Fortastra's culture emphasizes simplicity, accountability, and disciplined execution. The company values talent density over headcount, high autonomy with high ownership, and direct impact over corporate bureaucracy. You will own systems end-to-end with absolute responsibility for mission-critical reliability.
Requirements:
- B.S. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or other science/physics-based degree
- Prior experience in systems and mission operations software
- Experience with ground software, mission operations, or telemetry/command systems
- Experience with space systems (rovers, satellites, launch vehicles, etc.)
- Familiarity developing embedded software for real-time or safety-critical systems (aerospace, robotics, automotive, or similar)
- Exposure to DevOps for embedded systems and automated testing pipelines
- Familiarity with hardware-in-the-loop, fault tolerance, and safety-critical standards
- Experience with cloud-based ground systems or mission control software
- Ability to work independently and in small, fast-moving teams
- 5 days on-site in Torrance, CA required
- U.S. Citizenship and ability to obtain or have an active TS/SCI clearance (US Person considered)
