Embedded Software Engineer

Spire Global is a space-to-cloud analytics company that owns and operates the largest multi-purpose fleet of satellites around planet Earth. Our proprietary data and algorithms provide the most advanced maritime, aviation, and weather tracking in the world. In addition to its constellation, Spire’s data infrastructure includes a global ground station network and 24/7 operations that provide real-time global coverage of every point on Earth.

We are accelerating our spacecraft design and build capabilities and so we are expanding our Spacecraft Platform Flight Software team. If you are a talented embedded software engineer (no previous space experience necessary) and looking for a challenge, an opportunity to expand your skillset and to make a real  difference then we want to hear from you.

As a Software Engineer in the Flight Software team, you will join our world-class spacecraft engineering team in Glasgow. You will develop close working relationships with hardware and manufacturing engineers to design, build and test new systems, troubleshoot complex issues both in spacecraft manufacture and in-orbit, and support maintenance of existing systems.

We’re a high-impact, high-tech start-up and we depend on each and every person to help us up our game. When you have great ideas about how we can do that, we don’t just listen, we implement it. You will often be tasked with R&D projects, with a high level of autonomy to solve a problem the best way you see fit. We work as a team and depend on each other to learn quickly and put the new skills to good use.

You will have the opportunity to work across the whole range of our software stack, from bare metal implementation through to in-orbit automated scripting, to high-level telemetry analysis and monitoring using our cloud-based data analytics warehouse. To highlight a few aspects of the role:

• Core systems: Design and implement flight software and firmware that runs onboard our spacecraft. Making improvements to our existing codebase to enhance functionality, usability, robustness, performance, and writing and testing new code to integrate new technologies

• Communications and radio: Leverage innovations in radio design by implementing new communication protocols and new processing approaches, and integrating new radio hardware

• Satellite application platform: Build frameworks for the automated execution of work on the satellite to meet customer requirements or changing operational needs

Alongside a competitive salary, benefits include unlimited annual leave, subsidised gym membership, an education support scheme and a “Ticket to the World” Spire week, where you can work for a week in one of Spire’s other offices worldwide. See more at 

Qualifications/Experience:

• Extensive experience with embedded C: interrupt handlers, concurrency, etc.
• Strong Linux skills: extensive CLI/scripting familiarity, kernel mods, drivers, etc.
• Experience with sensor integration over I2C, SPI, CAN, UART, etc.
• Software Design with memory, processor, and real-time constraints
• Embedded Operating Systems (FreeRTOS, Yocto Embedded Linux)
• Scripting Familiarity: Python, Bash, etc.
• Experience with board bring-up

Strong candidates will also possess skills in one or more of the following areas:

• General hardware skills (EE, PCBs, ECAD or MCAD)
• ARM/RISC profiling and optimizations
• Networking (ISO, IP, protocol design)
• Experience in a high-reliability industry (Automotive, Aerospace, Defence, Medical) or an embedded industry (IoT, Mobile Phones, Distributed Sensor Networks)
• Domain Knowledge (Space, Attitude Control, Radio Communications, Power Control)
• FPGA expertise (Verilog, VHDL)
• RF programming (SDR, USRP, GNU radio)

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