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Rocket Lab Optical Systems, part of Rocket Lab's Space Systems division, is seeking a Senior Software Engineer II to design and develop flight software for advanced spacecraft supporting the U.S. Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (Tranche 3). This role focuses on deploying novel algorithms into size/weight/power-constrained sensor systems for space-based optical and infrared payloads serving Department of Defense and Intelligence Community customers.
You will own the full software development lifecycle—from requirements generation through implementation, testing, and deployment—for mission-critical space systems. Key responsibilities include architecting performance-oriented embedded software, leveraging accelerator technologies (FPGA, CUDA), and optimizing algorithms for austere space environments. You'll work on multithreaded applications, flight software system management, and numerical computing challenges that directly impact national security and space exploration.
Rocket Lab's Space Systems division has enabled over 1,700 missions, including payloads for NASA, the Space Force, and interplanetary exploration to the Moon and Mars. This is an opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge space technology at a company moving fast and building real hardware for meaningful missions.
Required: Bachelor's in computer science or computer engineering; 8+ years embedded software engineering experience; expertise in complex multithreaded application design; flight software development background; ability to obtain and maintain U.S. Government security clearance.
Desired: high-performance and parallel processing experience; FPGA/CUDA or novel architecture exposure; flight software system management; algorithm implementation; Python and MATLAB proficiency; numerical computing principles.
