Flight Software Engineer
About the job
- A Bachelor's degree in STEM (Science, Technical, Engineering, Math) or related scientific areas is required.
- A minimum of 8 years of experience with a Bachelor's degree, or 6 years with a Master's degree, is required.
- Experience working with aerospace hardware and/or software systems across conceptual designs and tradeoffs, detailed design, development, manufacture, integration, test, deployment, and operations is required.
- Proficiency in C and C++ is required.
- Expertise in one or more of the following areas is required: embedded software development; device driver development and software/hardware interfaces; real-time operating systems programming, debugging, and testing; cybersecurity; guidance, navigation, and control algorithms design, analysis, testing, and implementation; functional validation of embedded software on hardware; software safety assurance; network topology and configuration; numerical, emulator, and hardware-in-the-loop simulators; and software requirements and configuration management.
- U.S. citizenship is required.
- Upgrade existing flight software for new missions.
- Contribute to the development of new satellite flight software for customer satellite platforms.
- Develop in-house tools to analyze flight software performance and assess its compatibility with new missions and concepts of operations.
- Develop and execute flight software tests at the unit, module, subsystem, and platform levels.
- Work with manufacturing engineers to support installation onto the hardware-in-the-loop test environment and eventual flight hardware.
- Participate in anomaly resolution activities and patch existing flight software.
- Contribute to the development of systems- and mission-level modeling and simulation tools.
- Develop software models of payloads for ground testing.
- Support development of a software model of the satellite platform, particularly by ensuring accurate representation of the flight software.
- Support internal working groups and working groups with customers and vendors.
- Support proposal writing and new business activities.
- Assess the software impacts of new hardware, concepts of operations, and missions.
- A Master's degree in STEM (Science, Technical, Engineering, Math) or related scientific areas is preferred.
About the company
Red Canyon Engineering & Software provides engineering and software solutions that support space exploration and renewable-energy projects on Earth. It builds and integrates hardware and software systems used in space missions, including spacecraft components, instruments, and data analysis tools, to help clients study planets, comets, and other celestial bodies and to harvest renewable resources. Its products work by combining advanced engineering with software that controls or analyzes space hardware, enabling teams to plan, execute, and learn from missions. The company stands out through its SBA-certified HUBZone and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned status and its mix of government and major aerospace-industry clients, which supports mission-critical work. Its goal is to advance space science and human exploration while applying expertise to renewable-resource projects on Earth, helping clients complete complex missions more reliably and efficiently.
Company Size
11-50
Company Stage
Grant
Total Funding
$70K
Headquarters
Denver, Colorado
Founded
2000
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- June 2026 General Atomics Swordfish work extends reusable flight-software demand through 2027.
- July 2026 Wallops Range support ties revenue to NASA launch operations.
- Client list spans Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Sierra Space, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Honeywell.
What critics are saying
- Customer concentration around NASA and defense programs exposes revenue to procurement delays.
- Private-company opacity hides headcount, margins, and backlog; employees face abrupt project churn.
- Loss of NASA and DoD recompetes can collapse the flight-software franchise.
What makes Red Canyon Engineering & Software unique
- Since 2000, Red Canyon builds flight software, systems engineering, and spacecraft hardware in Denver.
- It holds NASA, NOAA, NREL, JPL, and DoD relationships plus GSA Schedule GS00F044GA.
- July 2026 NASA Wallops and June 2026 General Atomics/Swordfish work prove mission-critical niche.
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Benefits
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
Health Savings Account/Flexible Spending Account
Life Insurance
Disability Insurance
Company Equity
401(k) Retirement Plan
Paid Vacation
Paid Holidays