Spacecraft Software Engineer

Over the coming years, an OrbAstro spacecraft software engineer should expect to see their work used across many satellites, many payloads, many customers, and many mission types. The real-world learning curve is unusually steep. In a couple of years here, you can gain the kind of exposure many engineers would struggle to get in a decade elsewhere.

This is a rare opportunity to become very, very good.

What you will be doing

You will write software that operates real spacecraft.

You will work across embedded flight code, bootloaders, secure updates, TT&C, ADCS bring-up, sensor and actuator integration, in-orbit commissioning, FDIR, observability, test automation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and operational tooling.

You may also lead a small flight-software team and act as release authority, helping set the standard for how we build, test, release, update, recover, and operate spacecraft software.

This is not abstract software work. You will be close to the hardware, close to the mission, and close to the consequences. You will work with AIT, avionics, RF, ADCS, payload, ground-segment, and operations teams to get spacecraft commissioned, stable, resilient, and productive in orbit.

You will work on customer missions, hosted payload missions, constellation missions, and OrbAstro’s own internal constellation programmes. We are not only building satellites for others; we are building towards our own vision for the next generation of orbital infrastructure: more capable, more accessible, more autonomous, and ultimately more useful to humanity.

The software you write here will matter.

What we are looking for

We are looking for an exceptional engineer who wants an unusually steep learning curve and an unusually high level of ownership.

OrbAstro is a lean, high-calibre team operating in a part of the industry where execution matters. We are not looking for passengers. We are looking for people who take responsibility, move fast without becoming careless, raise standards, and make the people around them better.

This role will suit someone who wants to be pushed, trusted, and stretched. Someone who enjoys difficult technical problems. Someone who is comfortable close to hardware. Someone who wants their work to fly. Someone who would rather own a real system than be a small part of a slow, distant programme.

You should have a “we will figure it out” attitude, but also the judgement to know when rigour matters. Spacecraft software must be practical, testable, observable, recoverable, and boringly reliable when it counts.

Five years at OrbAstro should set the right person up like almost nowhere else: code in orbit, ownership across many missions, exposure to the full spacecraft stack, responsibility for real operational systems, and the opportunity to become a serious technical leader in satellite flight software.

This is a small-unit environment: high trust, high standards, high tempo, high consequence.

• 4+ years of embedded C on ARM, ideally bare-metal or close to bare-metal.
• 2+ years leading, mentoring, or technically guiding a small software team.
• Embedded release engineering: bootloaders, secure boot, signed firmware, A/B rollback, anti-rollback, configuration control, and release gates.
• Git-based review workflows and disciplined software configuration management.
• CI/CD for embedded systems, including unit tests, integration tests, hardware-in-the-loop tests, and Python-based test harnesses.
• Requirements traceability, coding standards, MISRA or equivalent static analysis, and strong review discipline.
• TT&C, CCSDS, packet protocols, command handling, telemetry handling, and spacecraft configuration discipline.
• FDIR architecture, fault injection, watchdogs, safe modes, degraded modes, and robust autonomous behaviour.
• Sensor, actuator, ADCS, or payload bring-up.
• On-target debugging using JTAG/SWD, telemetry, logs, oscilloscopes, logic analysers, or similar tools.
• Automated commissioning, observability, and operational tooling.

Nice to haves

Experience with any of the following would be valuable:

• LEO missions from AIT through to in-orbit operations.
• ECSS, CCSDS, or other spacecraft engineering standards.
• FPGA or Zynq interfaces.
• Ground-segment automation, telemetry pipelines, dashboards, or operational observability.
• Space-system security, including key management, signed command paths, secure update chains, and anti-rollback.
• Building engineering culture: mentoring, code review, technical standards, release discipline, and high-ownership teams.

Pulled from the full job description

• Flexitime
• Annual leave
• Sick pay
• Life insurance
• Employee stock ownership plan
• Company pension
• Discounted or free food, This is not a remote-only role. You will need to work on-site at our satellite facility near Reading/Oxfordshire several days per week.

Much of the work involves embedded targets, flight hardware, hardware-in-the-loop rigs, spacecraft subsystems, test equipment, and close collaboration with the engineers integrating and operating the satellites. Some focused software work can be done remotely, but this is fundamentally a hands-on spacecraft engineering role.

Nice to knows

Depending on talent, experience, and future potential, salary is £50,000 to £65,000, with company equity in share options of 0.2%-0.4%.

We have no fixed limit on paid annual leave. Pension contribution is matched up to 10%. We provide company life insurance cover. Each employee has budget allocations for professional development and wellness. We provide free lunch for staff on-site.

Non-UK/EU applicants are welcome. We sponsor top talent., * Please complete this form: https://forms.office.com/e/9dYyrUJHd7 ; we do not need a long generic CV; we want to understand what you have built, owned, debugged, released, improved, and led.

• If we think there may be a strong fit, we will organise a technical chat and a culture-fit chat.
• If those go well, we may ask you to work with us on a short 1-2 day paid project before making the final decision.

Pay: £50,000.00-£65,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Casual dress
• Company pension
• Discounted or free food
• Employee stock ownership plan
• Flexitime
• Health & wellbeing programme
• Life insurance
• On-site parking
• Sick pay
• UK visa sponsorship

OrbAstro is a deeply vertically integrated satellite company. We design and build spacecraft, subsystems, flight software, ground systems, and operational infrastructure in-house.

We have a dozen satellites already in orbit and an 18,000 sq ft satellite facility in the UK. We are scaling for constellation build-outs and expanding from 30 kg-class satellites to 500 kg-class platforms.

Our mission is to make dedicated satellite infrastructure faster, more affordable, more capable, and more accessible. We believe the next generation of the space industry will be built by organisations that can move quickly, own more of the stack, automate more of the mission, and get useful capability into orbit without the delays and costs that have historically held the industry back.

OrbAstro intends to be one of those organisations.

For the right engineer, this is a rare environment: real spacecraft, real responsibility, many missions, fast feedback loops, broad technical exposure, and the chance to help build space infrastructure that can make a meaningful difference.