At Vast, our mission is to contribute to a future where billions of people are living and thriving in space. We are building artificial gravity space stations, allowing long-term stays in space without the adverse effects of zero-gravity. Our initial crewed space habitat will be Haven-1, scheduled to be the world’s first commercial space station when it launches into low earth orbit in May 2026. Our team is all-in, committed to executing our mission safely and on time. If you want to work with the most talented people on Earth furthering space exploration for humanity, come join us.
Vast is looking for a Staff Embedded Systems Software Engineer, reporting to the Senior Director of Flight Software to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations. You will be working under the direction of Vast’s Avionics leaders to implement the flight software for our Haven space stations. This is a unique chance to learn to develop world class software from our team who have worked on some of the most advanced spacecraft ever to leave the planet. Along with the flight software you will develop code and systems to test our software and avionics hardware.
This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location.
Responsibilities:
- Write flight software code for Haven’s flight computers, Remote IO computers and other flight hardware
- Work closely with the avionics hardware team to understand the avionics flight hardware design.
- Configure the Linux kernel, uboot system, kernel device tree, and onboard filesystems necessary to run our Haven flight software.
- Configure and write kernel drivers.
- Interface with and configure onboard FPGAs and attached devices
- Configure RTOS for microcontrollers
- Configure system boot sequences
- Integrate command and telemetry systems that communicate with ground systems and mission operations
- Develop flight code that implements GN&C algorithms
- Develop tests that rigorously exercise our flight software and hardware
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering or other engineering discipline
- 10+ years of experience coding in C++ or relevant experience
- Knowing how to work in a continuous build and test environment and understanding of the tools used
- Know how to read schematics and hardware datasheets
- Familiarity with git, make, and gnu tools
- Understanding and ability to work in a Linux environment
Preferred Skills & Experience:
- Experience with fault tolerant and safety critical software design on complex systems such as spacecraft, aircraft or autonomous vehicles
- Experience with bare machine programming
- Experience with network programming
- Working with satellite communications or telemetry systems
- Working in an agile development environment
- Experience with FPGA development
Salary Range: California
$155,000—$235,000 USD
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
Base salary will vary depending on job-related knowledge, education, skills, experience, business needs, and market demand. Salary is just one component of our comprehensive compensation package. Full-time employees also receive company equity, as well as access to a full suite of compelling benefits and perks, including: 100% medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents, flexible paid time off for exempt staff and up to 10 days of vacation for non-exempt staff, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, One Medical membership, ClassPass credits, personalized mental healthcare through Spring Health, and other discounts and perks.We also take pride in offering exceptional food perks, with snacks, drip coffee, cold drinks, and dinner meals remaining free of charge, and lunch subsidized as part of Vast’s ongoing commitment to providing high-quality meals for employees.
U.S. EXPORT CONTROL COMPLIANCE STATUS
The person hired will have access to information and items subject to U.S. export controls, and therefore, must either be a “U.S. person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.62 or otherwise eligible for deemed export licensing. This status includes U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents (green card holders), and asylees and refugees with such status granted, not pending.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
Vast is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Vast is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
What We Do
Founded in 2021 by Jed McCaleb, Vast is developing humanity’s next-generation space stations and pioneering the path to long-term living and thriving in space. Haven-1, scheduled to be the world’s first commercial space station, is currently in development and is expected to launch in 2025. Vast is also developing Haven-2, the proposed successor to the International Space Station (ISS), designed to serve NASA’s Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) program as a micro-gravity laboratory in space. Vast’s long-term ambition is to create artificial gravity habitations that enable humans to live in space, reaffirming its commitment to ensuring a spacefaring future for all.
Why Work With Us
We're developing artificial gravity space stations to expand humanity across the solar system in order to enable large populations to live and work in space. Not only is what we're working on groundbreaking, but the team prides itself on living by our values of respect, curiosity, action, and excellence making it a lot more fun to achieve our goal.
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