Systems Software Engineer

Job Title: Systems Software Engineer

Job Description

The Software Systems Engineer leads the definition and realization of robust, real-time, safety-critical flight software architectures for autonomous space vehicles. This role provides technical leadership across the full software lifecycle, from requirements and architectural definition through implementation, integration, verification, and release of real-time embedded solutions. The architect collaborates closely with multidisciplinary teams to ensure that flight software meets stringent mission-critical and safety standards, while driving best practices in software design, documentation, and agile project management. This is a hands-on technical leadership position without direct people management responsibilities.

Responsibilities

• Define flight software architectures that enable robust, real-time, safety-critical software systems for autonomous space vehicles.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to elicit, refine, and define software requirements, architectures, and detailed designs.

• Lead verification activities to ensure that all software products meet defined requirements and applicable safety-critical standards.

• Oversee the development of fault-tolerant flight software responsible for overall command and control of an autonomous space vehicle.

• Guide efforts to design, implement, and integrate real-time embedded software components for flight control systems.

• Oversee the creation and execution of unit tests to validate software components and ensure code quality.

• Lead validation activities using Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) environments to verify real-time embedded solutions under realistic conditions.

• Drive the release of real-time embedded software solutions, ensuring they are reliable, maintainable, and aligned with mission requirements.

• Lead and contribute to technical documentation, including software architecture descriptions, detailed design documents, and verification plans.

• Communicate project progress, status, technical risks, and potential issues clearly and proactively to stakeholders and leadership.

• Implement and maintain agile project management methodologies throughout the project lifecycle to ensure effective planning, tracking, and delivery.

• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to development teams, influencing design decisions and best practices without direct line management responsibility.

Essential Skills

• Experience in mission-critical software development, with a focus on safety-critical or high-reliability systems.

• Proven experience defining and implementing software architectures for embedded or flight software systems.

• Strong experience in real-time embedded systems, including system design, analysis, development, implementation, and integration.

• Hands-on experience with flight control systems or flight software for aerospace or spacecraft applications.

• Expert-level proficiency in C and C++ for embedded and real-time software development.

• Experience with real-time operating systems (RTOS) in embedded environments.

• Demonstrated expertise in software architecture design for safety-critical or mission-critical applications.

• Extensive experience in end-to-end software development, including requirements, design, coding, integration, and verification.

• Ability to lead verification activities and ensure compliance with safety-critical software standards.

• Strong communication skills to effectively convey technical information, project status, and risks to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Experience applying agile project management methodologies in software development projects.

Job Type & Location

This is a Contract to Hire position based out of Houston, TX.

Pay and Benefits

The pay range for this position is $80.00 - $95.00/hr.

Individual compensation offered for this position within this range will depend on many factors, including qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, geographic location, internal equity, and other pertinent job-related factors.

Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms. If eligible, the benefits available for this temporary role may include the following: - Medical, dental & vision - Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital - 401(k) Retirement Plan - Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available - Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents) - Short and long-term disability - Health Spending Account (HSA) - Transportation benefits - Employee Assistance Program - Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)

Workplace Type

This is a fully onsite position in Houston,TX.

Application Deadline

This position is anticipated to close on Sep 9, 2026.

About Actalent

Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 20,000 consultants and 5,000 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500. We are proud to be an Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firm for our engineering design services and a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing® winner for both client and talent service.

The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.

If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification or adjustment of the job application process or interviewing process due to a disability, please email View email address on click.appcast.io for other accommodation options.

San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, for all positions located in the city and county of San Francisco, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Massachusetts Lie Detector: It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our hiring process, including sourcing, screening, and evaluating candidates. AI helps assess applications and qualifications, but final decisions are made by our hiring team. By applying, you acknowledge and agree that your application may be reviewed using AI tools.