Director of Software
About the role
As part of the first 100 employees at Albedo, you will lead the software engineering organization across approximately three to four teams of managers and ICs. You will own the integrated software performance of the satellite, including deterministic flight software, control law implementation and verification, on-orbit and on-ground AI, and the command-and-control path. You will manage the simulation and HIL infrastructure that scales across the program and stays honestly flight-like. You will lead the closure of the GNC analytical-to-flight loop so that anomalies trace cleanly to model gaps or implementation bugs without ambiguity. You will develop technical leaders in each software domain (including domains outside your strongest) and resist the gravity to over-invest in your home discipline. You will defend the boundary between flight software and ground tooling, and the boundary between software and hardware, against drift. You will partner with the Director of Hardware, Systems Engineering, and Program Management to make software a peer of hardware in the system.
Responsibilities
- Lead the software engineering organization — FSW, GNC, applied AI, ground — across approximately three to four teams of managers and ICs
- Own the integrated software performance of the satellite: deterministic flight software, control law implementation and verification, on-orbit and on-ground AI, and the command-and-control path
- Manage the simulation and HIL infrastructure that scales across the program and stays honestly flight-like
- Lead the closure of the GNC analytical-to-flight loop so that anomalies trace cleanly to model gaps or implementation bugs without ambiguity
- Develop technical leaders in each software domain (including domains outside your strongest) and resist the gravity to over-invest in your home discipline
- Defend the boundary between flight software and ground tooling, and the boundary between software and hardware, against drift
- Partner with the Director of Hardware, Systems Engineering, and Program Management to make software a peer of hardware in the system
Requirements
- Twelve-plus years in real-time embedded, GNC, or flight software, with at least four leading software engineering managers
- Deep fluency in deterministic flight or flight-like software: timing, scheduling, fault containment, C++ on RTOS
- GNC literacy at the leadership level - you cannot derive every Kalman variant from scratch, but you can engage substantively with control law structure, estimator behavior, actuator interaction, and their failure modes, and you have done so in your own career
- Track record of building simulation and HIL infrastructure that caught real bugs before flight, and post-mortem discipline that changed the pipeline when bugs survived
- Experience leading heterogeneous software teams across domains you did not personally come up through
- Real opinions on the HW/SW boundary, on-orbit vs ground compute split, and where abstractions earn their keep
Qualifications
- In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.
- Must be a U.S. citizen, a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.
Skills
- Leadership in software engineering
- Experience with real-time embedded systems
- Knowledge of GNC (Guidance, Navigation, and Control)
- Experience with simulation and HIL (Hardware-In-the-Loop) infrastructure
- Ability to lead diverse software teams
- Expertise in deterministic flight software and control law implementation
Benefits
- Employee friendly equity compensation
- 4% direct matching 401k
- Health Insurance: 100% employee coverage & 75% dependent coverage
- Parental leave and childcare coverage
- Flexible vacation and sick time from day one
- 12 company holidays
- $100 monthly wellness benefit
- Relocation package if not based in Denver
Pay
Salary Range: $211,150 - $239,250 per year
Schedule
Not specified
Benefits
- Employee friendly equity compensation
- 4% direct matching 401k
- Health Insurance: 100% employee coverage & 75% dependent coverage
- Parental leave and childcare coverage
- Flexible vacation and sick time from day one
- 12 company holidays
- $100 monthly wellness benefit
- Relocation package if not based in Denver