Mantis Space is a venture-backed aerospace company pioneering breakthrough technologies to build the first energy infrastructure in space. Headquartered in New Mexico—the cornerstone of U.S. defense R&D and a growing hub of the nation’s Space Valley—we are building from the ground up to accelerate the next generation of satellite and orbital energy infrastructure.

Our veteran-led team brings decades of leadership across space, defense, and advanced R&D, with experience at Google, Meta, AeroVironment/BlueHalo, Terran Orbital, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Space Telescope Science Institute, and Apple. With deep expertise in optics, photonics, and space systems, we are designing and delivering the infrastructure that will power the future of orbital energy and advanced aerospace operations.

Why Join Us:

Build from the ground up: Directly shape our Albuquerque lab and R&D test environment.
Make an impact: Your systems will enable critical research in optics, lasers, and energy systems for space.
Grow with us: Work alongside leading engineers, operators, and investors in a mission-driven environment.
Competitive pay, full benefits, and equity in a company shaping the future of energy and space.

About the Role:

Mantis Space is seeking a Payload Flight Software Engineer to own the software architecture, development, integration, testing, and operation of flight software supporting advanced space-based payload systems.

This is a highly cross-functional role spanning flight software, embedded systems, spacecraft integration, systems engineering, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and mission operations. You will own the payload flight software stack and work closely with spacecraft manufacturers and internal engineering teams to ensure that the payload operates reliably as part of the complete spacecraft system.

You will have the opportunity to influence mission architecture from early system definition through design, integration, launch, commissioning, and on-orbit operations.

The ideal candidate enjoys owning complete technical systems rather than isolated software components and is comfortable working at the intersection of software, electronics, spacecraft interfaces, and mission operations.

Key Responsibilities

Payload Flight Software

Design, develop, integrate, and maintain flight software supporting Mantis Space payload systems.
Define software architecture for command and control, telemetry, data handling, health monitoring, fault protection, and autonomous mission execution.
Develop reliable software capable of operating throughout spacecraft commissioning, nominal operations, contingency scenarios, and other mission phases.
Implement command and telemetry interfaces between payload flight software and spacecraft systems.
Develop software tools, libraries, test infrastructure, and development environments supporting payload development and mission operations.
Establish software configuration, version control, build, release, and deployment practices appropriate for flight hardware.
Participate in software architecture and technical design reviews.

Spacecraft Integration

Serve as the technical lead for payload-to-spacecraft flight software integration.
Work directly with spacecraft vendors and integration partners to define software and system interfaces.
Define and maintain interface requirements and Interface Control Documents (ICDs).
Coordinate command, telemetry, timing, power-state, data-transfer, communications, and operational interfaces.
Validate compatibility between payload software, spacecraft services, communications systems, and operational concepts.
Participate in technical interchange meetings, interface reviews, integration reviews, and spacecraft-level design reviews.
Identify and resolve software and systems integration issues that cross organizational or supplier boundaries.

Verification, Validation & Hardware Integration

Develop automated software test frameworks and simulation environments.
Develop and maintain software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop testing capabilities.
Support payload bring-up, hardware/software integration, environmental testing, and end-to-end mission validation.
Develop verification strategies and test procedures for flight software requirements.
Diagnose issues spanning software, electronics, communications, sensors, payload hardware, and spacecraft interfaces.
Participate in integration and test campaigns and support root-cause analysis of anomalies.
Establish objective evidence demonstrating flight software readiness for launch and mission operations.

Mission Operations & On-Orbit Support

Participate in mission planning, payload commissioning, and on-orbit operations.
Develop operational procedures, command sequences, monitoring tools, and flight software support tools.
Support payload activation, checkout, calibration, and transition to routine operations.
Analyze telemetry and flight data to evaluate payload performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
Support anomaly investigation and resolution during commissioning and routine operations.
Develop and execute software updates when required to improve mission capability, performance, or reliability.
Participate in operational readiness reviews and mission simulations.

Systems Engineering & Cross-Functional Collaboration

Work closely with systems, optical, electrical, mechanical, controls, RF, ground software, and mission operations engineers.
Translate payload requirements into software requirements, architectures, interfaces, and verification strategies.
Participate in system-level architecture and design trades.
Identify software-driven impacts to spacecraft architecture, payload performance, power, communications, timing, and operations.
Maintain clear technical documentation and communicate software risks, dependencies, and recommendations to engineering leadership.
Support development of engineering standards and flight software development practices as Mantis Space scales its mission portfolio.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
5+ years of experience developing embedded, real-time, distributed, or mission-critical software systems.
Strong proficiency in C++ and/or Rust.
Experience developing software in Linux-based environments.
Strong understanding of software architecture, embedded systems, interfaces, testing, and verification.
Demonstrated ability to work across hardware and software boundaries.
Experience troubleshooting complex systems involving software, electronics, communications, sensors, or other hardware.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to work effectively with external spacecraft vendors, suppliers, and technical partners.
Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively within a multidisciplinary engineering organization.

Preferred Qualifications

10+ years of experience with spacecraft, avionics, robotics, autonomous systems, scientific instruments, or other hardware-intensive systems.
Direct experience developing spacecraft or payload flight software.
Familiarity with flight software frameworks such as F Prime, cFS, or equivalent architectures.
Experience with spacecraft or embedded communications protocols including:

Ethernet
CAN
UART
SpaceWire
CCSDS
TCP/IP
Other spacecraft or embedded communications standards

Experience developing command and telemetry systems.
Experience with fault detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR) or fault protection.
Experience developing autonomous or semi-autonomous mission capabilities.
Experience integrating complex sensors, optical systems, RF systems, scientific instruments, or other advanced payloads.
Experience with software-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop, and processor-in-the-loop testing.
Experience supporting spacecraft integration campaigns and environmental testing.
Familiarity with spacecraft ground systems and mission operations.
Experience with spacecraft commissioning and on-orbit operations.
Experience developing or operating software for systems requiring high reliability and fault tolerance.
Experience working with government, commercial space, or NewSpace programs.
Familiarity with spaceflight software standards, processes, or mission assurance practices.

Personal Attributes

Systems thinker who naturally considers the interaction between software, hardware, spacecraft, and mission operations.

Learn more about this Employer on their Career Site