Astroscale France is looking for a Flight Software Engineer (M/F)
This role with significant technical ownership will focus on the design, development and validation of safety-critical Flight Software enabling autonomous rendezvous, proximity operations (RPO), and robotic servicing missions, including debris removal and life extension.
You’ll join a team developing cutting-edge autonomous spacecraft performing complex in-orbit operations that have not yet been achieved at commercial scale.
🛰️Responsibilities :
Flight Software
* Design, develop and validate onboard Flight Software for Astroscale spacecraft, ensuring deterministic real-time execution under constrained onboard resources.
* Define and maintain software interfaces (ICDs) with spacecraft subsystems.
* Integrate GNC and Computer Vision algorithms into real-time onboard software, ensuring deterministic execution and system-level consistency.
* Contribute to and influence the onboard software architecture and hardware-software partitioning.
* Implement robust fault detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR) mechanisms.
* Develop and execute Software\-in-the-Loop (SIL) and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) test campaigns in support of mission validation.
Wider responsibilities
* Liaise with GNC and Computer Vision teams to integrate their work on the Flight Software.
* Support coordination of Flight Software activities across subsystem teams to ensure coherent system integration.
* Attend and support reviews with potential partners or clients.
* Support knowledge transfer across Astroscale teams globally.
🚀 Expected results
* Deliver Flight Software that meets mission performance, safety, and reliability requirements.
* Achieve successful integration with spacecraft subsystems and mission simulations.
* Contribute to on-time delivery of Flight Software for mission milestones (e.g. PDR, CDR, launch readiness).
🧑🚀Experience and Qualifications required
Essential:
* Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, software engineering, or relevant engineering / science discipline.
* 5 years’ experience in software development for real-time embedded systems (C/C++).
* Experience designing deterministic, multi-threaded real-time software.
* Knowledge of hardware solutions and hardware interfacing (drivers).
* Experience with software version control systems (e.g. Git) and continuous integration pipelines (e.g. Gitlab).
* Strong debugging skills across software, hardware interfaces, and system-level interactions.
* Proactive and self-managing, able to plan and effectively lead areas of responsibility whilst contributing collaboratively within a close-knit team.
* Fluent in French and English
* Be eligible and registered to work within Europe
Desirable:
* Experience developing software for the aerospace sector, including on platforms such as VxWorks or RTEMS.
* Experience across all stages of the mission design lifecycle, from initial concept through design, test, and operations.
* Familiarity with UML.
* Familiarity with commonly used protocols and standards for communications, such as CCSDS, CAN, Spacewire.
* Knowledge of the cFS software framework.
* Development on Linux\-based systems.
⚙️ Core competencies
* Demonstrates behaviours in line with Astroscale values (mission and people focused, transparent, innovative and pioneering, diverse and customer focused).
* Proactive, able to build working relationships, mentoring & knowledge sharing
Location
Astroscale France (Toulouse), with some hybrid working
What we offer
At Astroscale, we believe that when people feel supported, they can focus on achieving extraordinary things.
* Premium family health insurance (Mutuelle) 100% funded by the company
* 100% employer-funded disability & life insurance coverage (Pervoyance)
* Salary maintained from day one of sick leave
* Hybrid working (up to 2 days remote per week)
* Remote work allowance
* Paid child sickness leave
* Additional family and caregiving leave
About Astroscale
Astroscale is the global leader in on-orbit servicing, dedicated to the secure and sustainable development of space. The company delivers a variety of innovative and scalable on-orbit servicing solutions, including life extension, refurbishment, upgrades, in-situ space situational awareness, end-of-life, and active debris removal. Since its first successful launch in March 2021, Astroscale has proven rendezvous and proximity operations technologies in orbit during the ELSA-d and ADRAS-J missions. Astroscale spacecraft have been selected for pioneering missions with JAXA, the U.S. Space Force, the European Space Agency, the UK Space Agency, and Eutelsat. As more satellite operators adopt on-orbit servicing to routinely inspect, relocate, remove, and extend the life of spacecraft, the potential of a circular space economy — and a future of no waste in space — is being unlocked. Headquartered in Japan, Astroscale has a global presence with subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and Israel. Find out more about Astroscale at www.astroscale.com.
Compensation (from employer):
42-55k€