Senior Guidance Software Engineer

Senior Guidance Software Engineer – Next-Gen Air Systems

Long Beach, CA | Full-Time | Aerospace & Defense Innovation

The Opportunity

A fast-growing defense technology company is seeking a Senior Guidance Software Engineer to play a key role in the development of next-generation autonomous air systems. This is a rare chance to work on a clean-sheet airframe design, shaping guidance and navigation software that will define the future of aerospace defense technology.

You’ll be part of a high-caliber R&D team, working hands-on with cutting-edge platforms, rapid prototyping methods, and advanced sensor integration — all while helping to bring real-world mission-critical systems to life.

What You’ll Do as the Senior Guidance Software Engineer

• Design and implement guidance and navigation software within COTS/autopilot frameworks.
• Collaborate with airframe and hardware engineers on vehicle design and system integration.
• Develop real-time embedded software on microcontrollers and SoCs.
• Integrate vendor drivers, firmware, and low-level interfaces.
• Support system verification and flight testing activities.

What You Bring as the Senior Guidance Software Engineer

• Bachelor’s or higher in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Aerospace, or related field.
• 10+ years of professional software development in aerospace/defense.
• Experience developing guidance algorithms for UAS (ArduPilot or similar frameworks).
• Strong grasp of flight dynamics (fixed wing + rotary wing).
• Hands-on experience with real-time embedded systems (STM32, Nvidia Jetson, Xilinx SoCs).
• Agile development expertise (Scrum, CI, TDD).
• U.S. Person status (required).

Bonus Skills

• DoD security clearance.
• FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot certification.
• Experience with EO/IR or radar sensor integration.
• Familiarity with VHDL/FPGA firmware, git, DevOps/CI/CD pipelines.
• Proven success in full lifecycle software development and HW/SW integration.

Why Join the team as a Senior Guidance Software Engineer?

• 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision.
• Competitive salary, generous equity, relocation support, and annual bonus program.
• Perks: daily lunch, “no meeting Fridays,” unlimited PTO, casual work environment.
• Be part of a rapidly scaling company (130+ employees, $490M raised, over $1B+ valuation) with a leadership team that has already built billion-dollar defense tech companies.

This is more than a software role — it’s your chance to build the guidance systems powering the next generation of autonomous defense air vehicles.