Senior Software Engineer - Autonomous Air Systems (Avionics)

Job Description

Job Description

US Citizen or Permanent Resident 

In-Person 

Fall 2026 Start

Join us in building aircraft at scale, reindustrializing the Midwest, and turning autonomous aircraft into decentralized infrastructure. Orb is a small mission-driven team where your initiative, creativity, and dedication will be used to reach every village on the planet with power, logistics, and communications.

Your Role at Orb:

Orb is building software-hardware-integrated air platforms. This position will lead the design and of world class microelectronics, sensors, and edge compute devices. This position will develop firmware and interface with software primarily in Rust.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and integrate autonomy into edge computing systems
• Develop and test software solutions within Software-in-The-Loop and Hardware-in-The-Loop environments
• Leverage existing mesh network hardware to support real-time communication
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary project teams
• Lead and mentor a small software team while balancing multiple projects
• Implement modern DevOps practices

Required Qualifications

• Minimum 7+ years working in a strongly typed language (Rust preferred)
• Proficiency in a Linux development environment
• Understanding of data structures, algorithms and code optimization
• Experience in most or all of the following areas:
• o   SLAM
• o   Robotics / ROS
• o   Vision Systems (OpenCV)
• o   Localization
• o   Control systems

Preferred Qualifications

• BS or MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• Embedded software development and hardware debugging experience
• Experience developing autonomous systems
• Experience with bandwidth-limited networking

+ Options and Incentives

About Orb Aerospace [AT1] [CC2] [AT3]  : Orb was started with the mission to bring aviation to the 80% of the world that’s never had it; turning autonomous aircraft into tools to decentralize infrastructure, connect continents, protect soldiers, provide for families, and run economies. “Less like the flying taxis, more like the flying cowboys,” Orb is at the intersection of manned and unmanned aviation, reindustrializing the Midwest, and building the future we know is possible and want to live in.  

About Node One: Node One is a small team of engineers and operators who have dedicated their lives to solving some of the world’s hardest problems through a new kind of aviation. Orb’s live-work-fly R&D HQ. Node One is all about reducing the cycle time to design, build, and fly aircraft from years to months and building the systems and platforms we’ll use to reach every village on the planet. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Their great work allows us to accomplish ours. If you’ve been a rocket/airplane nerd and have a passion for designing, building, and flying airframes, autopilots, power systems, and embedded systems, or you love to push a new product through new manufacturing methods to a new market, come join the team at Node One and make history.

Orb Employees Are:

·         High Agency and Biased Towards Action

·         Have a History of Self-Starting, Pacing, and Finishing Projects

·         Thrive with Autonomy to Design New Solutions to Partially Defined Problems

·         Are Curious and Continue Learning

·         Can Represent the Company to Stakeholders and Customers Forward Deployed

·         Have Integrity and a Desire to Serve Others

Standard Benefits Package:

·         Orb provides a monthly flat rate towards medical, dental, and vision

o   $500 flat rate for individuals; $850 flat rate for married/family

·         Medical, Vision, Dental, Short/Long Term Disability, and Group/Voluntary Life Insurance

·         Opt-In 401K Options (Pre-Tax or Roth) with a 3% Employer Match

Perks:

·         Support in Getting your Pilots License and Ratings

·         Support for Continuing Education

·         Annual Customer Demos all over the World

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.