The role is part of the In-Space Systems business unit, which is focused on addressing two of the most compelling challenges in spaceflight today: space infrastructure and increasing mobility in orbit.

We at Blue Origin envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth, and are passionate about developing reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems to meet this vision, all within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. We hope that you can join our diverse team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!

The Flight Software Systems Engineering Lead role is part of the In-Space Systems business unit, which is passionate about development, manufacturing, and operation of satellite systems to address one of the most compelling challenges in spaceflight today: space mobility. As part of a hardworking team of software developers, you will ensure our flight software satisfies the needs of our critical partners and craft the larger vehicle and ground architectures and designs to enable us to successfully implement the required capabilities.

In this role you will provide the technical glue connecting our flight software to the systems engineering functions across the program. You will help ensure the program requirements, operational descriptions, and system designs have been shaped so that flight software can effectively meet our customers' needs. The higher-level requirements will in turn need to be decomposed into valid, well-written software requirements, interfaces, and designs that can be implemented by the development team. Throughout, you will help guide the software development and testing, resulting in the verification of a complete flight software solution. To accomplish this, you will work closely with our Architect, who is defining the structure of our software, our Product Owner, who is defining the plan and top-level capabilities, and our Development and Verification Leads, who are ensuring the detailed implementation is in line with our roadmap, architecture, and requirements.

You will also be responsible for documenting how and what the flight software team produces by developing our standards and processes, and ensuring our architecture, designs, interfaces, and software products are sufficient. This will require a systems-thinking approach as you must understand many of the architectural and design elements of the other systems so that you can align our software interfaces and interactions with their needs.

This role is central to ensuring a cohesive and relevant flight software design with well-defined interfaces that are fully understood and agreed to by our developers, customers, and partners. Ideally, there will be no assumptions in how the software will act or what capabilities it will provide, allowing the software to integrate smoothly with the spacecraft subsystems as the designs come together. Your efforts will also help ensure we meet the needs of the other elements, including our Production, Payload Integration, and Operations teams. By proactively working the needs, requirements, and interfaces across the teams, our software development team will be able to move forward with speed and confidence.

As the Principal Flight Software Engineer for Blue Ring, you will be expected to use your broad expertise in multiple software domains to mentor our team and utilize your deep knowledge of space-based software systems to help make strategic decisions within our business unit. You will also you're your counterparts on other programs and business units to craft the strategies and long-range plans for our company.

Special Mentions

Travel expected up to 10% of the time

• Shape all areas of the program, including the payload, spacecraft, and ground elements, developing advanced techniques, processes, and criteria to enable effective software development
• Assess all non-software design decisions for potential flight software impacts and provide software technical guidance
• Regularly coordinate with users to ensure the software interfaces are current and agreed to.
• Own the software requirements ensuring they are understandable, valid, traceable, and verifiable; maintaining the software baseline as the program evolves and new customers join us.
• Provide technical mentoring for the Blue Ring software team and across Blue as time allows.
• Coordinate with Product Owner, Architect, Dev, and Verification leads to ensure the architecture and design will meet stakeholder needs, satisfy requirements, and can be verified.
• Provide a of software lifecycle documentation, including the Software Development and Verification Plan (SDVP)
• Support enterprise-level initiatives and provide cross-program coordination and guidance.

• B.S. degree in computer science, computer engineering, applied mathematics, intelligent robotics, or related field.
• 15 years of embedded software development experience with at least 10 years in spacecraft development and operations
• Experience developing time-critical systems, particularly those related to safety-critical and high-assurance applications across the lifecycle (define, build, verify, operate, etc.)
• Breadth and depth of understanding of embedded software development concepts, including design patterns, low-level software structures, hardware integration, inter-process communication, scheduling, partitioning, and network communication.
• Experience developing safety-critical and/or high-assurance software.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

• M.S. degree in computer science, computer engineering, applied mathematics, intelligent robotics, or related field.
• 15 years embedded software development experience developing, operating, and maintaining satellites or other space systems.
• Experience working with cross-functional stakeholders, shaping expectations, requirements, and designs that support effective software development.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex software concepts to senior leaders, executives, and customers, resulting in clear understanding of the issues that lead to decisions.
• Demonstrated experience developing new technologies and concepts while respecting best practices and acknowledging lessons learned.
• Experience setting up and developing embedded Linux with an understanding of how to use in higher assurance applications.
• Domain expertise of spacecraft system and subsystem functions, interfaces, and communication protocols (i.e. serial, 1553, Ethernet, gimbals, thrusters, gyros, etc.).
• Demonstrated experience debugging and identifying root cause at the hardware/software boundary.
• Experience utilizing hardware testbeds and lab environments for software and system verification.