Flight Software Intern

About This Role 

Fall internships will range between the months of August and December. All dates dependent upon the university schedule of the selected students. Internships are full-time and on-site in Los Angeles, CA. To be considered for this internship, candidates must be actively enrolled in an accredited undergraduate or graduate degree program. 

As a Software Engineering Intern, you will contribute to the software that powers Varda’s missions across ground systems, flight and embedded software, testing and simulation, and developer platform and infrastructure. You will help build tools and services that assist engineers and operators in monitoring, commanding, and analyzing spacecraft, strengthen testing and simulation capabilities, and improve reliability and observability for mission‑critical operations.

We encourage applicants from all backgrounds, including those historically underrepresented in aerospace and software, as well as candidates from non‑traditional educational paths. If you are driven by curiosity, motivated to learn fundamentals, and excited to tackle real engineering constraints, we want to hear from you. Even if you don’t meet every preferred skill or haven’t had access to robotics teams, embedded labs, or maker spaces. We value potential, clarity of thought, and growth mindset.

What You Will Work On

At Varda, writing code is often the smaller challenge. The larger challenge is engineering systems that behave correctly under real constraints. We think about the timing, determinism, safety, reliability, and clarity of design. We value first‑principles reasoning, curiosity about how computers and networks actually work, and a disciplined approach to understanding problems at their root.

• Work with engineers building components for bare‑metal, RTOS, and Linux‑based embedded processors and learn verification and validation techniques used to ensure system quality.
• Contribute to services for telemetry ingestion, scaling, distribution, and commanding, and help build operator‑focused interfaces that reduce cognitive load during integration, testing, and on‑orbit operations.
• Build tools for flight‑software simulations, device emulators, and automated tests to enable fast, safe iteration for avionics, GNC, and mission operations teams.
• Help standardize CI/CD pipelines, artifact management, service templates, infrastructure‑as‑code, hardware‑in‑the‑loop frameworks, test harnesses, and observability tools.

Responsibilities

You will be paired with mentors across Mission Software, Flight Software, and Embedded Systems, and your projects will be matched to your skills and coursework.

• Use first‑principles reasoning to approach problems and justify design tradeoffs.
• Build Python and/or C++ tools, services, and libraries that interface with flight and ground systems, emphasizing correctness, determinism, and observability.
• Contribute to automation for simulation, hardware‑in‑the‑loop, and scenario‑based testing.
• Debug issues that cross abstraction boundaries, including OS behavior, networking, timing, and hardware‑software interactions.
• Collaborate across flight software, embedded systems, mission operations, and test teams; communicate clearly, ask clarifying questions early, and seek support when needed.

Basic Qualifications

• Proficiency in C++ and/or Python.
• Actively enrolled in an accredited undergraduate or graduate program during the internship term.
• Understanding of core computer science fundamentals including data structures, algorithms, and operating systems.
• Ability to debug complex software issues and comfort working in Linux environments.

Preferred Skills And Experience

• Familiarity with systems fundamentals including concurrency, networking, performance, and reliability.
• Exposure to real‑time embedded development or safety‑critical software, and a working knowledge of math and physics.
• Experience may come from coursework, personal projects, community college, bootcamps, open‑source contributions, internships, or self‑driven learning. We care more about your fundamentals, curiosity, and engineering approach than how you acquired them.
• Participation in any project work. Whether robotics, rocketry, capstone projects, personal builds, lab work, or open‑source contributions. Focus on demonstrating an interest in understanding systems beneath abstraction layers.

Relevant Coursework

• Data Structures & Algorithms
• Operating Systems
• Computer Architecture
• Software Engineering / CS Fundamentals
• Bonus: Signals and Systems, Digital Design, Embedded Systems, Electronics

Compensation

• Hourly Rate: $37.00
• Housing stipend for interns relocating to the area
• Commuter benefit to support local transportation