Software Engineer, Test & Automation

The role

You will build and own software, tooling, and infrastructure to verify spacecraft systems. This includes developing reusable frameworks for SIL, HITL, environmental, radiation, and field testing.

What you will do

• Design, develop, and maintain reusable software frameworks for automated spacecraft testing
• Own software and automation for HITL infrastructure
• Build SIL environments for rapid development and validation
• Automate environmental and qualification testing
• Build scheduling, resource management, and reporting systems
• Integrate automated tests into continuous integration workflows
• Stand up, configure, and maintain test racks and lab equipment
• Develop software interfaces for controlling and collecting data from test equipment
• Partner with engineering teams to define test coverage and validate releases
• Investigate failures and anomalies to drive root-cause analysis

Required qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in test automation, embedded software, hardware/software integration, validation infrastructure, or a related discipline
• Strong software development skills in Python, C/C++, or Rust
• Experience designing maintainable software tools, libraries, services, or frameworks used by other engineers
• Hands-on experience testing software against physical hardware and integrating software with lab or test equipment
• Experience with common embedded communication interfaces such as SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, and Ethernet
• Ability to debug complex issues that cross software, hardware, instrumentation, and test-environment boundaries
• Demonstrated focus on reusability, reliability, observability, and maintainability
• Ability and willingness to support hands-on testing in laboratory, test-facility, and field environments

Nice to have

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field
• Experience testing spacecraft, aircraft, automotive systems, robotics, or other high-reliability embedded systems
• Experience developing SIL or HITL test environments, hardware emulators, simulators, or fault-injection systems
• Experience automating environmental tests such as thermal-vacuum, vibration, shock, or electromagnetic compatibility testing
• Experience supporting radiation effects testing
• Experience building software for experiment control, telemetry collection, data analysis, visualization, and automated reporting
• Experience designing or maintaining test racks, harnessing, data-acquisition systems, and lab infrastructure at scale
• Experience supporting field-test operations
• Understanding of flight software concepts such as real-time systems, fault detection and recovery, command and telemetry handling, and hardware abstraction
• Familiarity with test configuration management, requirements traceability, calibration records, and reproducible test environments

Benefits

• Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and eligible dependents
• 401(k) retirement savings plan
• Paid time off
• 10 paid holidays per calendar year
• Paid parental leave
• Relocation assistance if applicable
• Daily lunch in the office
• Fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks

Before you apply

• Applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Depar

About the company

Cowboy Space Corporation is building the infrastructure for abundant, resilient space-based solar energy. The company is based in San Carlos, CA.