Staff Embedded Software Engineer, Communications Systems

At Relativity Space were building rockets to serve todays needs and tomorrows breakthroughs. OurTerran R vehicle will deliver customer payloads to orbit meeting the growing demand for launchcapacity. But thats just the start. Achieving commercial success with Terran R will unlock newopportunities to advance science exploration and innovation pioneering progress that reaches beyondthe known.

Joining Relativity means becoming part of something where autonomy ownership and impact exist at every level. Here youre not just executing tasks; youre solving problems that havent been solved before helping develop a rocket a factory and a business from the ground up. Whether youre in propulsion manufacturing software avionics or a corporate function youll collaborate across teams shape decisions and see your work come to life in record time. Relativity is a place where creativity and technical rigor go hand in hand and your voice will help define the stories were writing together. Nowis a unique moment in time where its early enough to leave your mark on the product the process andthe culture but far enough along that Terran R is tangible and picking up momentum. The mostmeaningful work of your career is waiting. Join us.

About the Team:

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was establishedto expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster more affordable and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed built andoperated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge broadens participation and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

• Own the application-level software on the optical terminal processor thermal control loops fast steering mirror control interface and health monitoring writing the higher-level software that sits on top of FPGA gateware and interfaces to the payload network
• Develop Linux device drivers and hardware abstraction layers for optical terminal components including thermal sensors actuators and steering mirror interfaces translating raw hardware behavior into clean software interfaces
• Build the software interfaces between all communication subsystems (Ka-band UHF optical) and the rest of the data center including packet parsers protocol adapters and OSI layer 23 implementations that connect externally developed radios to the payload network
• Implement fault detection and recovery software for communication hardware along with command telemetry and mode management software for each comms subsystem because a bug in a packet parser or driver can mean a lost downlink pass and science data that sits on disk longer than planned
• Work at the system boundary where software meets real hardware debugging integration issues across serial buses Ethernet interfaces and radio transceivers alongside electrical engineers and the FPGA gateware developer

About You:

• BS/MS in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering and 5 years of relevant experience
• Strong systems programming skills in C with experience writing software that talks directly to hardware device drivers register-level interfaces or bus protocol implementations
• Experience with Linux device driver development and real-time or embedded software design
• Solid network programming skills: sockets packet handling and layer 2/3 protocol implementation
• Comfort implementing control loops in software and understanding enough digital communications to interface correctly with modem hardware even if youre not designing the waveforms yourself

Nice to haves but not required:

• Experience with spacecraft communication subsystem software or radio interface development
• Familiarity with CCSDS packet structures and protocols
• Hands-on experience with serial and bus interfaces to radio hardware SPI I2C UART and Ethernet-based control planes
• Knowledge of optical communication terminal operation concepts or free-space optical link systems
• Experience with thermal control loop implementation and tuning
• Background in hardware abstraction layer design for systems with multiple hardware variants or evolving interfaces
• Comfort in a hardware lab: serial consoles logic analyzers and debugging signal integrity issues alongside the electronics team

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race religion color national origin gender sexual orientation age marital status veteran status or disability status.

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