Flight Software Engineer

Position Overview

Planet's Flight Software Team is responsible for all of the embedded software that powers our diverse fleet of Superdove, Skysat, Pelican, and Tanager satellites. The software we build and maintain deploys to orbiting spacecraft hundreds of kilometers away and spans many functional verticals, including navigation and avionics, payload control, radio software, onboard autonomy, and supporting tooling and infrastructure. We collaborate closely with many teams at Planet, including the Payload, EE, RF, Ground Software, and Missions teams, to deliver reliable and innovative solutions that ensure the success of Planet's missions. As a Flight Software Engineer at Planet, you will play a key role in the definition, development, maintenance, and optimization of this critical software. Our mission is to create seamless, intuitive systems that enable spacecraft operators, analysts, and engineers at Planet to interact reliably with our assets in space. We strive to minimize operational burden and automate all aspects of satellite operations. In this role, you will solve a wide range of complex engineering challenges in a fast-paced environment, designing and implementing new APIs, refining existing ones, and evaluating appropriate software technologies. You will own and conduct root cause analyses across software and hardware domains, even when the target is hundreds of kilometers away with limited bandwidth. Additionally, you will help design and deploy critical infrastructure that scales effectively to support Planet's evolving missions while collaborating with operators and key stakeholders. This is a hybrid role which will require you to be in our San Francisco office 3 days per week.

Key Responsibilities

• Independently own root cause investigations for complex bugs and implement robust fixes across our embedded targets, including bare-metal, RTOS, and Linux-based application code.
• Design, implement, and test new features and software components for new and existing satellite platforms with minimal guidance.
• Analyze system performance and propose/implement software improvements to enhance fleet robustness, efficiency, and capability.
• Work with stakeholders and other engineers to define specifications, develop clear component APIs, and produce comprehensive tests and documentation.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• 4+ years of professional software development experience, with solid proficiency in C or C++ for embedded systems (RTOS or bare-metal).
• Experience with Python for scripting, testing, and data analysis.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts to engineers, satellite operators, and project managers.
• Professional experience working under agile development using the Git version control system.
• Familiarity with common hardware communication protocols such as UART, SPI, or I2C.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in multiple programming languages and operating systems.
• Linux/Unix systems programming experience such as memory-mapped files, network protocol development, and process memory management.
• Direct experience with RTOS and bare metal development on ARM microcontrollers (e.g., STM32).
• Experience writing software for FPGA softcores, RISC-V or otherwise.
• Experience developing or deploying applications for edge computing, such as onboard data processing or machine learning inference.
• Experience with containerization technologies like Docker/lxc.

Benefits & Perks

• Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision plans
• Health Savings Account (HSA) with a company contribution
• Generous Paid Time Off in addition to holidays and company-wide days off
• 16 Weeks of Paid Parental Leave
• Wellness Program and Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Home Office Reimbursement
• Monthly Phone and Internet Reimbursement
• Tuition Reimbursement and access to LinkedIn Learning
• Equity
• Commuter Benefits (if local to an office)
• Volunteering Paid Time Off

Compensation

The US base salary range for this full-time position at the commencement of employment is listed below. Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary short-term and long-term incentives (bonus and equity). The final salary range is determined by job-related experience, skills, and location. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.

EAR/ITAR Requirements

This position requires access to export-controlled information, and as such, employment (or hiring of a contractor) is contingent upon the candidate's ability to access all applicable export-controlled information without additional export licensing being required by the Bureau of Industry and Security and/or the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls.

Application Deadline: February 16, 2026, 11:59pm PST