Flight Research Senior Software Engineer (Networking/Telemetry)

Company Overview

Joby Flight Research designs, develops, and flight-tests novel aircraft using a software-first autonomy approach. We build and deploy autonomy, perception, planning, and radar systems across conventional, electric, and hydrogen-electric aircraft in both CTOL and VTOL configurations.

Overview

Joby's Flight Research group is looking for a skilled senior software engineer to play a pivotal role in the development of cutting-edge flight automation systems and novel aircraft configurations. The engineer will lead development of the software responsible for sending telemetry data across redundant datalinks to a fault-tolerant ground control station data backend. The individual will contribute heavily to the implementation of routing procedures, serialization protocols, encryption algorithms, reliable messaging protocols, and distributed backend systems. We're looking for someone who thrives in fast-paced environments, takes full ownership, and consistently delivers high-impact results.

Location: Santa Cruz, CA or Concord, CA

Responsibilities

• Lead development of end-to-end data link software responsible for telemetry downlink and command uplink between autonomous aircraft and ground control stations.
• Design and implement logic to select among multiple redundant airborne data links, optimizing for link quality, latency, and bandwidth to ensure robust telemetry delivery.
• Design and implement software for VoIP processing for low latency voice communications and radio relay between aircraft and ground control stations.
• Develop airborne software modules for serializing, compressing, encrypting, and prioritizing telemetry and command packets to meet performance and security requirements.
• Build fault-tolerant systems on the ground to receive, validate, and route telemetry data from aircraft to the appropriate ground control station in real time.
• Manage seamless handoff of command and control of aircraft between ground control stations.
• Ensure reliability and integrity of uplinked commands, including retry logic, acknowledgments, and duplicate detection across unreliable or lossy connections.
• Collaborate with networking and hardware teams to define and integrate software for radios, routers, and networked communication equipment.
• Implement observability tools and diagnostics for monitoring link health, packet loss, latency, and failure modes across the entire communication chain.
• Own the testing strategy for end-to-end communications, including software simulation, hardware-in-the-loop simulation, and real-world flight test integration.
• Contribute to long-term architecture and planning, ensuring scalability, maintainability, and compliance with aviation communication standards.

Required

• Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, or a closely related discipline. Alternatively, candidates with a strong portfolio demonstrating the design and implementation of networked or distributed systems, or with equivalent professional experience in industries such as aerospace, defense, autonomous systems, telecommunications, or embedded systems development, will also be considered.
• 5+ years of experience building networked or distributed systems, ideally with real-time or embedded constraints.
• Fluency in C++, Python, and Git.
• Familiarity with encryption, network security protocols, and key management for safety-critical networks.
• Familiarity with serialization formats and low-level packet handling (i.e. layers 2-4 of the OSI network model).
• Familiarity with Linux networking internals and system-level debugging tools (e.g., tcpdump, strace, perf).

This position must meet US export control compliance requirements, therefore a candidate must qualify as a “US Person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15. “US Person” includes US Citizens, lawful permanent residents, refugees, or asylees.

Desired

• Aerospace related work experience.
• Experience developing or configuring router software (e.g., OpenWRT, RouterOS, or custom embedded routing stacks).
• Understanding of radio or datalink systems (e.g., LTE, satcom, line-of-sight).
• Experience with Qt, React, or other modern UI frameworks for desktop or web-based GCS (Ground Control Station) interfaces.
• Experience with Rust.
• Familiarity with the Bazel Build system.

Compensation at Joby is a combination of base pay and Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). The target base pay for this position is $148,000 - $204,000/yr. The compensation package will be determined by job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Joby also offers a comprehensive benefits package, including paid time off, healthcare benefits, a 401(k) plan with a company match, an employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, and more.

Additional Information

Joby is an Equal Opportunity Employer.