About this role
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 j oin a team developing cutting-edge autonomous spacecraft performing complex in-orbit operations that have n ot yet b een 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 s oftware interfaces (ICDs) with spacecraft subsystems.
- Integrate GNC and Computer Vision algorithms into real-time onboard s oftware , ensuring deterministic execution and system-level consistency.
- Contribute to and influence the onboard s oftware architecture and hardware- s oftware parti tioning.
- 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 C omputer V ision t eams 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, s oftware engineering, or relevant engineering / science discipline.
- 5 years’ experience in s oftware development for real-time embedded systems (C/C++).
- Experience designing deterministic, multi-threaded real-time s oftware .
- Knowledge of hardware solutions and hardware interfacing (drivers) .
- Experience with s oftware version control systems (e.g. Git) and continuous integration pipelines (e.g. Gitlab).
- Strong debugging skills across s oftware , hardware interfaces, and system-level interactions.
- Pro active 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 .
- Famili arity with UML.
- Famili arity with commonly used protocols and standards for communications, such as CCSDS, CAN, Spacewire .
- Knowledge of the cFS s oftware 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 .