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Venus Aerospace

Posted 17 days ago

Embedded Software Engineer

HoustonOn-siteFull-time

AI Summary

Develops real-time embedded flight software for avionics and flight computer systems, translating hardware requirements into robust code and building automated verification for mission-critical aerospace systems.

About this role

Who We Are:
Venus Aerospace is revolutionizing rocket engine propulsion. With the first generational leap in rocket engine technology since Apollo, our proprietary Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine and Venus Detonation Ramjets deliver historic efficiency and performance across aerospace applications. We are building the next generation of propulsion platforms that enable breakthrough capabilities in space, defense, and commercial high-speed flight. Our team thrives on solving the toughest engineering challenges and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in aerospace. At Venus, we’re looking for bold engineers and innovators who want to make history and redefine the future of propulsion.
The Role: Embedded Software Engineer
We are seeking a talented Embedded Software Engineer to help develop the flight software that powers our next-generation avionics and flight computer systems. You’ll join a small, multidisciplinary Software team that currently spans embedded systems, ground software, hardware test and data acquisition, HIL/V&V, and internal enterprise software. As an early member of our growing Embedded Software team, you’ll have significant ownership in shaping the architecture, processes, and technical direction of this area. As the company grows, this role offers the opportunity to take on technical and people leadership and help build out the Embedded Software organization.

What You'll Get To Do

  • Develop Flight Software
  • Design, implement, and integrate real-time embedded software for our flight computers and avionics systems.
  • Translate system and hardware requirements into robust, maintainable, and testable software.
  • Work across the hardware/software boundary to bring up, debug, and integrate embedded systems.

    • Build for Reliability:

  • Develop software with the rigor required for mission-critical aerospace systems, including fault handling, verification, and configuration management.
  • Develop automated unit, integration, and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing to verify flight software.
  • Collaborate with Avionics, GNC, Test, Ground Software, and QA engineers to identify and solve complex system-level problems.

    • Shape the Embedded Team:

  • Help establish our embedded software architecture, development processes, tools, and engineering practices.
  • Take ownership of projects from initial concept through implementation, integration, and flight readiness.
  • Grow with the company and, as the team expands, have the opportunity to mentor engineers and lead the Embedded Software organization.

    • What You Have

    Experience-Level:

  • Software engineer with 5+ years’ experience developing embedded systems for flight-related systems.
  • Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related engineering discipline. Advanced degree a plus. Equivalent professional experience may be considered.

    • Embedded Software Fundamentals:

  • Strong proficiency in C and/or C++ for resource-constrained embedded systems.
  • Experience developing software for microcontrollers, SoCs, or embedded CPUs.
  • Strong understanding of embedded concepts:
  • Interrupts and interrupt handling
  • DMA peripherals
  • Memory-mapped I/O
  • Timers and watchdogs
  • Serial communication interfaces
  • Concurrency and synchronization
  • Memory management and resource constraints
  • Ability to read schematics, datasheets, reference manuals, and hardware specifications and translate them into software requirements.

    • Real-time Systems:

  • Experience developing real-time embedded software with deterministic timing requirements
  • Familiarity with RTOS concepts, such as scheduling, priorities, synchronization, inter-task communication, and timing analysis.
  • Understanding of latency, jitter, deadline misses, and failure modes in real-time systems.
  • Experience reasoning about system behavior when multiple asynchronous events occur simultaneously.

    • Safety/Reliability-Critical Aerospace Software:

  • Experience developing software where correctness, reliability, and fault handling are critical.
  • Experience with:
  • Fault detection and handling
  • Redundancy or graceful degradation
  • Watchdogs and health monitoring
  • Startup/self-test behavior
  • Robust state-machine design
  • Safe handling of unexpected inputs and hardware faults
  • Understanding of the difference between nominal behavior and behavior during degraded or failed hardware/software conditions.
  • Experience with Weapons Open Systems Architecture (WOSA) and Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA).

    • Verification and Testing:

  • Experience writing unit & integration tests
  • Ability to create test cases from software requirements.
  • Familiarity with code coverage and other objective measures of verification.
  • Ability to diagnose problems spanning the SW/HW boundary.

    • Software Engineering Practices:

  • Good candidates should be comfortable with:
  • GIT and modern code-review workflows
  • CI/CD for embedded systems
  • Static analysis and compiler diagnostics
  • Automated regression testing
  • Requirements tracking and traceability
  • Issue tracking and defect analysis
  • Peer reviews of both code and design
  • Writing clear technical documentation

    • Systems-Level Thinking:

  • Collaborate closely with Avionics, GNC, Propulsion, Test, and Ground Software engineers
  • Translate system-level requirements into software architecture and implementation
  • Understand interfaces between flight software and sensors, actuators, communications systems, and other onboard computers.
  • Participate in system architecture and interface definition
  • Diagnose problems that may originate in hardware, firmware, software, configuration, or integration.

    • What Will Set You Apart

  • Experience developing or integrating embedded software within modular weapons, missiles, avionics, or other mission-critical architecture.
  • Familiarity with defensive programming and failure containment.
  • Experience interfacing/developing code for FPGAs
  • MIL-STD-1553, RS-422, and RS-485 experience
  • Experience with compliance to DO-178C or MIL-STD-882E standards
  • Thrust Vector Control (TVC) experience
  • Experience working with Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs)
  • Experience working with Global Positioning System (GPS) chips
  • SpaceWire / Time-Triggered Ethernet experience
  • Experience with Model-in-the-Loop (MIL), Software-in-the-Loop (SIL), and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing environments and best practices
  • Experience debugging software using: JTAG/SWD or equivalent debugging interfaces, Logic Analyzers, Oscilloscopes, Serial/Network interfaces, Embedded tracing/logging tools
  • DAQ fundamentals for voltage, current, and temperature measurements
  • Experience developing automated test infrastructure.
  • Experience with GitLab pipelines, Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence), or systems engineering practices.
  • Experience working in a development environment where changes need to be reviewable, reproducible, and traceable.

    • Skills

    Automated Regression TestingCC++CI/CDConfluenceDMADO-178CEmbedded CPUsFPGAGitGitLabGPSHIL TestingIMUInterruptsJiraJTAG/SWDLogic AnalyzersMemory-mapped I/OMicrocontrollersMil-Std-1553MIL-STD-882EMOSAOscilloscopesRequirements TraceabilityRS-422RS-485RTOSSerial CommunicationSOCsSpaceWireStatic AnalysisThrust Vector ControlTime-Triggered EthernetWOSA

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