Principal / Senior Embedded Flight Software Engineer
Pulse Space
Seattle, WAFull-timePosted 1 day agoStill listed 1 day ago
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Job overview
Pulse Space develops laser-based systems for space. The Principal / Senior Embedded Flight Software Engineer owns flight software across spacecraft and payload processors, working on an early-stage stack where major decisions remain open. The role spans processor bring-up, drivers, control algorithms, command and telemetry, fault management, and development infrastructure. The engineer will also help shape the toolchain and infrastructure and, as the team grows, assist with hiring and lead incoming software engineers.
Skills & qualifications
Skills
Qualifications
Full job description
Back to Careers Principal / Senior Embedded Flight Software Engineer Spacecraft & Payload Systems Seattle, WA Full-Time Engineering / Software Apply Now
About this role Pulse develops laser-based systems for space. You will be one of the owners of the flight software across our spacecraft and payload processors. C/C++ and/or Rust, embedded Linux, RTOS, bare metal when it calls for it. The stack is early and the big decisions are still being made. Today that means you write boot code, device drivers, control loops, fault management, and command/telemetry. You also help shape the toolchain and infrastructure. As the team grows, you will assist in hiring and lead the software engineers who join us.
In this role, you will
- Bring up flight processors from bare board to running OS. Bootloader, BSP, first serial output. Whether the target runs embedded Linux or an RTOS depends on the application
- Write device drivers for spacecraft peripherals (SPI, I2C, UART, SpaceWire, CAN)
- Take control algorithms from Simulink prototypes to flight code
- Build and maintain the command and telemetry stack. Ground commands in, housekeeping data down, handling for lost packets, corrupted frames, and link interruptions
- Build and maintain the fault management layer. Define what the spacecraft does when a sensor goes silent, a temperature exceeds limits, or a watchdog fires
- Build and maintain the development infrastructure. Cross-compilation toolchain, CI pipeline, hardware-in-the-loop test harnesses
- Chase down the bugs that only show up when the processor, the FPGA, and the sensors are all talking at once
What you bring
- You’ve shipped embedded software on real hardware. More than once. Spaceflight heritage strongly preferred
- C/C++ and Rust on embedded targets. Strong in at least one, motivated to work in both. Bare metal, RTOS, and embedded Linux
- You understand real-time constraints at the register level. Interrupt priorities, DMA, cache coherence, missed deadlines
- You can set up cross-compilation toolchains, CI pipelines, and automated test, not just use them
- You write clearly. Other engineers build to your ICDs, test procedures, and design rationale
- BS or MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or Aerospace Engineering 8+ years for senior, 12+ for principal
What will set you apart
- You’ve selected a flight computer, RTOS, or toolchain for a new program and lived with the consequences
- You’ve dealt with radiation effects, single-event upsets, and code you cannot easily patch
- You’ve helped grow an embedded software team, not just worked on one
Apply Now
How this job compares
Set against the 1,317 open Embedded Software Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 11, 2026.
- Pay
- This postingNot listed
- Washington median$144–194K/yr70 salary ranges
- US median$55–77/hr85 hourly ranges
- Openings
- Olive Jobs lists 75 open Embedded Software Engineer jobs in Washington and 1,317 across the US. 2% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
- Experience
- This posting asks for at least 8 years of experience — more than three in four Embedded Software Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for (median 5 years, across 1,094 postings).
- Education
- 536 of the 1,317 open Embedded Software Engineer jobs (41%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.
Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 11, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.
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