Fligth Software Engineer

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.