Head of Flight Software

I am supporting an early-stage space technology company that is developing a new spacecraft platform and looking for a Head of Flight Software to take technical ownership of the function. This is not a traditional management role where you inherit a large team and spend most of your time in meetings. The successful person will define the flight software architecture, remain heavily involved in production code and lead the software from early development through integration, qualification and flight. The role Own the flight software architecture for a new spacecraft platform. Develop software in C/C'. Lead software delivery from requirements and initial design through HIL testing, qualification and flight operations. Make key architectural decisions across spacecraft control, autonomy, telemetry, command and fault management. Work closely with GNC, systems, electrical and mechanical engineering teams. Establish coding standards, development processes and verification strategies. Review code and provide technical direction to a small, growing software team. Support mission readiness, anomaly resolution and future on-orbit updates. Help determine how the flight software organisation develops as the company scales. Experience leading flight software development for spacecraft, launch vehicles, robotics or another mission-critical platform. Experience with RTOS, embedded Linux or bare-metal systems. End-to-end ownership from requirements through integration, test and deployment. Knowledge of spacecraft command and data handling, autonomy, fault management, telemetry or GNC software. Experience with hardware-in-the-loop or spacecraft-in-the-loop testing. The ability to make system-level architectural decisions while remaining hands-on with the engineering. Experience with Rust, NASA cFS, F’, CCSDS, SpaceWire, MIL-STD-1553 or custom flight software frameworks would be valuable, but is not essential. The opportunity This is a chance to build rather than inherit. You will have significant influence over the software architecture, development framework, engineering standards and future team, while staying close to the technology and solving difficult engineering problems. The company is moving quickly toward flight, so this will suit someone comfortable with the pace, ownership and ambiguity of an early-stage hardware startup. Competitive salary, equity, bonus and PTO on offer. #J-18808-Ljbffr InnoForge