Lead Flight Software Engineer in Reading

At NewOrbit Space, our mission is to engineer the lowest orbiting satellites on Earth to rapidly advance global connectivity and insight. We are currently building satellites that can operate at an altitude of just 200 km – one-third that of conventional satellites.

Your role involves owning the software that makes the spacecraft behave: real-time control flows, autonomy, mode management, and the core flight applications that coordinate every subsystem. You will design and implement robust flight-software services on RTOS or Embedded Linux, turning mission requirements into deterministic, testable software, and take it from simulation all the way to launch and on-orbit operations. You will ensure our VLEO satellites stay safe and productive with strong fault tolerance, clean observability, and rapid iteration through over-the-air updates.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own the on-board flight-software stack – design, implement and test real-time Rust/C/C++ on RTOS or Embedded Linux.
• Integrate subsystems end-to-end – define ICDs and build drivers/middleware over I2C/SPI/UART/CAN(-FD)/SpaceWire (as applicable).
• Build spacecraft behaviours & autonomy – implement mode management, sequencing, and autonomous FDIR for safe and productive operations.
• Deliver reliable real-time performance – manage concurrency, timing, CPU/memory budgets, and observability under tight constraints.
• Build verification infrastructure – prototypes, SIL/HIL test harnesses, simulations, and telemetry analysis tooling to validate designs early.
• Ship code from review to orbit – push through CI/CD, support integration and launch ops, and deliver secure over-the-air updates.
• Work across disciplines – collaborate with avionics, AOCS, comms and mission teams to trade compute, power, thermal, storage and link budgets.

Fundamental Requirements:

• Proven experience in building production embedded or real-time systems in C/C++ and/or Rust on RTOS or Embedded Linux for space systems.
• Strong grasp of real-time software: scheduling, interrupts, concurrency primitives, determinism, and designing for constrained CPU/memory.
• Proven ability to build reliable, testable systems: unit/integration testing, simulation-first development, HIL validation, and disciplined debugging.
• Hands-on experience integrating with hardware via common interfaces (I2C, SPI, UART, CAN(-FD), GPIO, etc.) and practical lab debugging.
• Solid software engineering fundamentals: architecture, code review, static analysis, CI/CD, configuration management, and observability/logging.
• Ability to own systems end-to-end: from requirements and design through implementation, verification, operations support, and iterative improvement.

Nice-to-haves:

• Experience with spacecraft flight software frameworks (e.g., cFS, F´, or building lightweight component-based equivalents).
• Familiarity with autonomy and fault management patterns for radiation/SEUs, watchdog strategies, redundancy, and safe-mode design.
• GNC/AOCS-adjacent experience: sensor/actuator pipelines, control-loop integration, estimation/filters, timing analysis.
• Digital-twin / simulator / SIL-HIL experience for end-to-end behaviour validation and regression testing.
• On-orbit operations know-how: commissioning flows, anomaly response, telemetry triage, and OTA update strategies.

Why NewOrbit Space?

• Pioneering Space Technology – You'll contribute to launching groundbreaking technology into space.
• Unmatched Ownership and Impact – You'll experience a level of ownership that's rare in the space industry.
• Equity and Competitive Salary – You'll receive not just a competitive salary but also company ownership stakes.
• Comprehensive Benefits Package – Including private health insurance with dental and optical coverage, annual healthcare check-ups etc.
• Hybrid Work – A hybrid setup with one dedicated remote day per week.
• Visa Sponsorship & Relocation Support – We provide a relocation package and sponsor your visa if you’re joining us from abroad.