Aerospace - Embedded Software Engineer (m/f/d)

Embedded Software Engineer (m/f/d)

We are looking for… You!

You

• want to write software that runs a few hundred kilometres above your head?
• want to build something nobody else has?
• are put off by neither challenge nor variety?

Then join our young and unconventional team and support us on our upcoming missions!

Your future tasks with us include, for example:

• Design, implementation and test of reliable real-time software in C for nano- and small satellite missions
• Development of the on-board software on FreeRTOS and ARM Cortex-M – from the on-board computer down to the firmware of individual subsystems
• Software that keeps working when nobody can go and fix it: deterministic runtime behaviour, clean fault handling, MPU-based memory separation and safe software updates in orbit
• Protecting the on-board software: authenticated telecommands, secure boot and key management
• Driver development and integration of subsystems via CAN, I2C and SPI, as well as communication following space standards (CCSDS, ECSS PUS, CSP)
• Verification at unit, subsystem and system level including hardware-in-the-loop, supported by our own test tooling in Python
• Involvement in integration, commissioning and in-orbit operations – down to debugging on the flying system

Our requirements:

• A degree in computer science, electrical engineering, aerospace engineering or a comparable field
• At least two years of experience in embedded software development – considerably more is welcome, and depending on your experience you will take ownership of entire subsystems
• Strong C skills and experience with real-time operating systems, ideally FreeRTOS
• Experience with low-level programming on microcontrollers (preferably ARM Cortex-M), serial buses and debugging with logic analyser and JTAG
• An instinct for reliability: you think about failure cases, timing and resource limits before you write code
• Good Python skills and a structured way of working with Git, code reviews and automated builds
• Very good English skills; German is an advantage but not required

Nice to have, but not required:

You can pick up most of this with us – but we are glad if you already bring some of it along:

• Experience with space systems, their standards (CCSDS, ECSS, CSP) or with software exposed to radiation
• Experience with SoCs and FPGAs (Zynq-7000, UltraScale+, RISC-V, VHDL/Verilog)
• Experience with Java, which we use mainly for simulation and ground software
• Security for embedded systems, such as cryptography on microcontrollers
• Experience with Rust in embedded contexts – our flight software is written in C today, and we are looking into Rust for upcoming applications

What we offer:

• Software that actually flies – from architecture through implementation and test to operations in orbit
• Hands-on work with real satellite hardware, flatsats and hardware-in-the-loop test systems
• Distributed satellite systems, formation flight and topics that are only just taking shape here, such as on-board anomaly detection
• A high degree of ownership and freedom in a relaxed, collegial and international team
• Good opportunities for professional and personal development