Software Chief Engineer

Key Responsibilities:

Technical Leadership 

• Provide software technical leadership across flight software, built-in test, GNC software, onboard autonomy, edge/orbital compute, ground software, and the developer platform and SDK

• Drive convergence toward a coherent, reusable software architecture across programs 

• Ensure software activities remain aligned with mission and platform objectives 

Engineering Execution 

• Take on the highest-risk and hardest cross-cutting software problems and drive them to resolution 

• Identify and remove software technical roadblocks that span teams and programs 

• Ensure timely software technical decisions and clear technical accountability across programs

Design Reviews & Technical Oversight 

• Lead deep software technical reviews across programs: architecture, interfaces, timing and real-time behavior, fault management, margins, and security 

• Challenge assumptions, designs, analyses, test evidence, and verification coverage 

• Lead software design reviews, anomaly investigations, and readiness reviews 

Decision Making 

• Make timely, evidence-based software technical decisions 

• Balance capability, reliability, security, maintainability, schedule realism, and technical risk 

• Prevent teams from stalling on unresolved cross-cutting software issues 

Communication & Alignment 

• Communicate software technical direction clearly and consistently across the engineering organization 

• Translate complex software issues into concise recommendations for leadership 

• Represent software engineering in customer reviews, supplier and partner meetings, and governance boards

• Ensure software decisions, assumptions, risks, and actions are clearly documented (KEDS) and communicated

• Build alignment across Software, Systems, Program Management, Product Assurance, and leadership 

Engineering Excellence 

• Mentor software leads, architects, and senior engineers, and grow the next tier of technical leaders 

• Raise the standard of software technical rigor, review quality, and standards compliance 

• Drive reuse, platform standardization, tooling and CI/CD maturity, and lessons learned 

Key Interfaces 

• Director of Software & Digital Design: joint review and approval of software technical direction, vision, and roadmap 

• Chief Engineer (Systems) and program Chief Engineers 

• Program Managers 

• Software Managers, Tech Leads, and Architects 

• Systems, GNC, and Payload Engineering 

• Software Product Assurance and Quality 

• Mission Operations 

• Customers, Suppliers, and Partners 

Decision Making 

• Set and evolve technical strategy, including direction, vision, and roadmap, jointly with the Director of Software & Digital Design, while retaining decision authority for execution-level technical choices across programs 

Measures of Success 

• Software teams remain technically aligned across programs 

• Major cross-cutting software decisions are made on time 

• Software technical risks are understood before they become program risks 

• Software design reviews achieve high technical maturity 

• Reuse and architectural coherence increase measurably across programs 

• Leadership has confidence in the technical status of the software portfolio 

• Flight and ground software are delivered to standard and perform in orbit 

Leadership Principles 

• Lead through technical credibility 

• Challenge assumptions constructively

• Strengthen the program leads and architects rather than override them 

• Communicate clearly and decisively 

• Make sound decisions under uncertainty 

• Develop future technical leaders 

• Maintain unwavering technical integrity 

Required Skills & Qualifications:

• 15+ years of progressive software engineering experience, including significant experience as a Chief Engineer, Software Architect, Distinguished Engineer, Technical Fellow, or equivalent senior technical authority
• Demonstrated success providing technical direction across a software organization of 50+ engineers, multiple programs, and several engineering disciplines
• Strong understanding of the complete software lifecycle: requirements, architecture, detailed design, implementation, integration, verification, validation, deployment, operations, maintenance, and anomaly resolution
• Experience mentoring senior engineers, architects, and technical leads and developing the next generation of technical leadership
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline
AI Leadership & Adoption
• Demonstrated experience establishing and executing an AI strategy across software engineering and the broader organization
• Demonstrated success driving organizational change, building AI fluency, and encouraging adoption among engineers, technical leaders, and non-technical teams

Bonus Points:

• Direct experience developing flight software, spacecraft autonomy, GNC software, payload software, onboard or edge computing, and ground-segment systems
• Experience with spacecraft operations, on-orbit commissioning, anomaly resolution, or software updates to operational systems
• Familiarity with digital engineering, model-based systems engineering, requirements management, software product assurance, and formal verification methods
• Experience building common software platforms, SDKs, reusable services, and shared infrastructure across several products or programs
• Experience working within a scaling technology company where processes, architectures, and organizational structures are continuing to mature