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Salary: USD 169,067 - 216,031 / annual
Varda Space Industries is building commercial space infrastructure, including in-orbit pharmaceutical processing systems, reentry capsules, and satellite buses. The company designs and operates all components in-house, from heat shields to processing payloads.
As a Senior Embedded Software Engineer on the Flight Software team, you will be responsible for determining how Varda's spacecraft behave and operate in orbit. You will own all phases of software development—from requirements capture through testing and flight operational support—ensuring reliable firmware that controls the spacecraft, satellite bus, and reentry capsule throughout their entire missions.
Key responsibilities include:
- Developing reliable firmware to control spacecraft, satellite bus, and reentry capsule operations through complete mission lifecycles
- Owning all aspects of software development: design, testing, and integration
- Scoping projects, capturing requirements, and conducting initial design trades for open-ended problems
- Writing quality structured bare metal, RTOS, or Linux-based software for embedded processors in C++
- Building highly reliable and available software systems
- Ensuring system quality and performance through software test, verification, and validation (V&V) techniques
Varda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, with additional offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL. The company was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov and is backed by leading investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and General Catalyst. The team includes veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies, and Silicon Valley.
Note: This role requires U.S. person status (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)) due to ITAR export-control requirements.
QUALIFICATIONS:
Basic Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, math, physics, engineering, or equivalent technical experience in safety-critical software
- 5+ years of experience in the development of spacecraft or similar safety-critical software
- Experience developing and testing real-time embedded hardware/software systems
- Experience with development in C++, along with a strong understanding of language concepts
Preferred Skills and Experience:
- Experience with safety-critical software, especially for aerospace applications
- Experience with additional programming languages such as Python or Rust
- Strong understanding of computer architecture, operating systems, data structures, and computer networking
