Flight and Ground Software Engineer

Job Summary

The Flight and Ground Software Engineer supports the development, testing, and maintenance of software solutions for space technology programs at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). This role focuses on flight software for spacecraft ranging from CubeSats to ESPA-class satellites, ground station software, and mission operations center applications. This position provides hands-on software development, testing, and integration support for space missions throughout their lifecycle from concept through operations.

Key Responsibilities

• Flight Software Development & Integration: Assist senior engineers in developing and modifying flight software/firmware for spacecraft systems, write, test, and document code for spacecraft subsystems under supervision, support integration and testing of flight software in hardware/software-in-the-loop environments, assist with software configuration management and version control for flight code, participate in flight software code reviews and testing procedures

• Ground System Software Development: Design and implement software tools for ground stations, mission operations centers, and data processing, develop utilities for telemetry processing, command generation, and mission planning, modify existing ground software to meet emerging mission requirements, maintain ground software databases and configuration management systems, support cloud-based ground system infrastructure and commercial ground station interfaces

• Flyt Operations Software Support: Develop scripts and automation tools to support spacecraft operations, create utilities for vehicle planning, command block building, and verification, support development of anomaly detection algorithms and fault reporting systems, assist with operational acceptance testing and regression testing, provide software support during spacecraft on-orbit operations as required

• Testing & Quality Assurance: Develop and execute unit tests, integration tests, and system tests for flight and ground software, support hardware/software-in-the-loop testing environments, document test procedures, test results, and software defects, participate in software validation and verification activities

• Documentation & Collaboration: Create and maintain software documentation including design documents, user guides, and interface control documents, participate in agile development processes, sprint planning, and technical reviews, collaborate with systems engineers, hardware engineers, and operations personnel, document lessons learned and contribute to process improvements

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field

• Experience: 0-3 years of experience in software engineering or a related field

• Clearance: Secret, with TS/SCI preferred

• Required Skills: Proficiency in programming languages applicable to embedded/flight systems: C, C++, Python, strong knowledge of software design, development, and testing methodologies, experience with version control systems (Git, Subversion) and software configuration management, understanding of software development lifecycle and agile methodologies, strong analytical and problem-solving skills, excellent documentation and technical writing abilities, ability to work in team environments and take direction from senior engineers, willingness to learn space systems, spacecraft operations, and mission operations center software

• Preferred Skills: Familiarity with spacecraft systems, satellite operations, or aerospace software, experience with Linux/Unix environments, knowledge of DevOps practices and CI/CD pipelines, experience with cloud computing platforms (AWS GovCloud, Azure Government), familiarity with Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) tools, understanding of spacecraft command and telemetry protocols, experience with scripting languages (Python, Bash, PowerShell) for automation, knowledge of database management systems (SQL, NoSQL), exposure to hardware/software-in-the-loop testing, academic or professional experience with CubeSats or small satellite projects, coursework in orbital mechanics, spacecraft systems, or aerospace engineering, participation in university CubeSat or NanoSat programs or similar hands-on space projects