Vehicle Software Engineer

Job Description

Job Description

Make it rain. Make Snow. Make Earth Habitable. 

Rainmaker builds and deploys audacious technologies that work with nature to create an abundant, habitable planet. We are modernizing proven cloud-seeding science with weather-resistant UAS, radar and satellite observations, numerical weather prediction, novel sensing and validation systems, and sustainable seeding technologies. We are building an integrated system to make more freshwater available to farms, ecosystems, and communities.

Our ambition is bold, but we pursue it with humility. We take on difficult problems in the real world with technical rigor, grit, integrity, and an openness to learning and course-correcting. We are hiring individuals with evidence of exceptional ability. If you want to build systems that endure, restore, and deliver the future we were promised, we want to hear from you.

The vehicle software team builds the software that operates Rainmaker’s cloud-seeding vehicles, connecting flight control, onboard computing, sensors, payloads, and ground operations. We work closely with electrical, mechanical, manufacturing, and flight operations teams to turn new hardware into reliable systems that can be built, deployed, and operated at scale. Our goal is to make every vehicle a dependable tool for delivering more freshwater where it is needed. About the Role

You will own vehicle software capabilities from the operator interface to the onboard systems that execute a mission. Your work will span ground stations, mission planning and execution, failsafe behaviors, sensing, payload and sensor integration, and autonomy. You will build software that helps operators make good decisions, lets vehicles carry out missions reliably, and handles failures predictably. You will take projects from architecture and prototyping through simulation, hardware integration, flight testing, deployment, and field support. We’re looking for a high-agency engineer who identifies what needs to happen, turns incomplete requirements into a clear plan, and follows through until the system works reliably in real operating conditions. This is a hands-on technical ownership role with the autonomy to shape the vehicle software and the responsibility to deliver it.

What You'll Do

• Own the architecture, implementation, and maintenance of vehicle software capabilities across onboard computers and ground systems, with clear contracts for commands, telemetry, state, and failure behavior.  

• Build operator interfaces and ground-station workflows for vehicle preparation, preflight checks, mission control, health monitoring, and intervention. Make vehicle state, command outcomes, and required operator actions clear.  

• Develop mission planning and execution software that turns operational goals into validated flight paths and geofences, accounts for vehicle endurance, coordinates flight and seeding activity, and supports mission changes as conditions evolve.  

• Design and validate arming checks, interlocks, and failsafe behaviors for communication loss, degraded sensing, low power, process failures, and unexpected vehicle states, including clear transitions between autonomous behavior and operator control.  

• Integrate sensors, cameras, and seeding payloads with onboard software and flight-control systems. Ensure measurements, calibration, timestamps, device health, and payload commands are reliable and observable.  

• Develop autonomy that uses sensing and vehicle state to execute missions within operating limits, handle contingencies, and reduce operator workload.  

• Build dependable communication between vehicles and ground stations, accounting for intermittent links, stale telemetry, and commands that may be delayed, duplicated, or unacknowledged.  

• Build automated tests, software-in-the-loop simulation, and hardware-in-the-loop coverage that catch regressions and exercise failure modes before releases reach the fleet.  

• Partner with hardware engineers and flight operations to validate new capabilities on the bench and in flight, and make deployment, configuration, calibration, and diagnostics repeatable.  

• Investigate field failures using logs, telemetry, and mission replay; resolve root causes and turn what you learn into better software, tests, and operator workflows.

What We're Looking For

• 3+ years of hands-on experience developing software for vehicles, robotics, or other systems that interact with the physical world, including deployment into production or field use.  

• Demonstrated ownership of a software capability from design through integration, release, and ongoing support, including making technical decisions independently and resolving failures in real operating conditions.  

• Strong systems programming skills in Rust or C/C++, with the willingness to work primarily in Rust and contribute to TypeScript-based operator interfaces. Our stack includes Rust onboard services and ground-station backends, React/TypeScript interfaces in Electron, and PX4 flight-control integration over MAVLink.  

• Experience developing and debugging software on Linux, including concurrent processes, network communication, and interfaces to hardware or flight-control systems.  

• Practical experience in one or more of the following: operator interfaces and ground stations, mission planning, autonomy, sensing, or payload integration, with the willingness to work across these boundaries.  

• The ability to reason about distributed system state, timing, and failures, and implement robust state machines, fault detection, failsafes, and recovery paths.  

• A practical approach to operator-facing software: you can turn field workflows into clear controls, useful feedback, and predictable system behavior.  

• Experience building maintainable software with version control, reproducible builds, automated testing, and disciplined release practices.  

• Evidence of high agency: you surface problems without waiting to be assigned, make sound decisions with incomplete information, ask for help when it matters, and close the loop on results.  

• Clear communication and the ability to work closely with hardware engineers and operators, explain tradeoffs, and document decisions so others can operate and support what you ship.

What Will Set Your Apart

• Experience deploying drones or autonomous robots and supporting real-world flight or field operations.  

• Familiarity with PX4, MAVLink, ground-control systems, or flight-critical software.  

• Experience building operator interfaces with React, TypeScript, or Electron, particularly mapping tools or geospatial mission-planning workflows.  

• Experience with sensor fusion, state estimation, path planning, or autonomous mission execution.  

• Experience integrating payloads, sensors, or embedded controllers over interfaces such as CAN, serial, or Ethernet.  

• Experience validating safety-related behaviors through simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, fault injection, and field testing.

What Success Looks Like In the First 90 Days

You understand how operators plan and execute missions and can trace commands, telemetry, and failure behavior between the ground station, onboard software, flight controller, sensors, and payloads. You have identified the most consequential reliability risks and operator pain points, and the team has a clear plan for what to address first. You have delivered a meaningful vehicle software improvement through simulation and integration testing into an operational release, working with flight operations to verify its behavior in the field. You have demonstrated both its intended behavior and its response to relevant failures, and improved at least one recurring source of friction in mission planning, operation, testing, deployment, or diagnostics.

Supporting the people behind the mission

Making Earth more habitable is ambitious work. We want the people doing it to feel supported—in the work we share and the lives they’re building.

• A stake in what we build. Meaningful stock options and the opportunity to help shape Rainmaker as an early member of the team.

• Support for your health. Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance.

• An investment in your future. A 401(k) with employer matching to help you build long-term savings.

• Time to recharge. Unlimited PTO for rest, exploration, and the people and pursuits that matter to you.

• Time for a growing family. Paid parental leave for both parents to welcome a child and spend time together.

• Lunch together. Daily lunch provided at our El Segundo headquarters—a chance to share a meal and connect with teammates.

• Help making the move. Relocation assistance for eligible roles to support your transition to Rainmaker.