Flight Software Engineer

About the role

Katalyst Description:

Katalyst is an American technology company focused on dynamic space operations. We are building a fleet of dual-use multipurpose robotic space vehicles to create the future where maneuvering, upgrading, refueling, resupply and exploration are as routine as they are on Earth. Getting to space and overcoming the gravity well is only half the story. What you do there is the future. We are not building the trains. We are building the machines that lay down the tracks. By developing the foundational capabilities that make sustained, responsive operations possible, we enable a new era of space exploration that strengthens national security and ensures freedom of action in an increasingly contested domain.

Katalyst Culture:

Working at Katalyst is intense, hands-on, and deeply rewarding. You’ll take real ownership and see your work move from concept to operations in an environment where the problems are hard and the impact is real. We value humility, craftsmanship, and doing things the right way, even when it’s harder. You’ll work closely with thoughtful, driven teammates who push each other to do their best. Oh, and we're dog friendly!

Benefits:

- Stock options & equity

- Medical, dental, and vision coverage

- 401(k)

- Unlimited PTO

- Catered lunches

Broomfield, CO. Onsite. Full time. This position may be filled at Engineer, Senior, or Principal level depending on experience. Pick the level where you are strongest, we interview against that bar.

Katalyst builds spacecraft that rendezvous with, capture, and service other spacecraft. Our first vehicle is in orbit right now, flying real proximity operations, and the flight software running it is what you would own: the core platform every subsystem, sensor, and radio on the vehicle talks through. Small team, real hardware, your code flies, and you watch it fly from the console.

What you will do

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Own core flight software subsystems end to end: telemetry and messaging, the command and sequencing path, fault detection and recovery, hardware interfaces (UART, CAN, TCP/IP, RS-422), and the radios that keep us commandable

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Write modern C++ on a Linux flight computer, Python where it moves faster, and keep it memory-safe and thread-safe under schedule pressure, because the schedule belongs to a spacecraft

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Take changes from design through review, flatsat and hardware-in-the-loop verification, deploy, and on-orbit behavior, and close them, verified and handed over, not demoed

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Run point on anomalies: diagnose from telemetry and logs, decide what is safe to command, then fix the class of defect, not the instance

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Make the team stronger: review flight code with rigor, hand systems off with documentation that outlives you, and coach less experienced engineers to shippable instead of rewriting their work