Flight Software Engineer

Fortastra designs and delivers resilient, high-performance spacecraft that safeguard critical orbital assets and ensure freedom of action in space. We integrate advanced autonomy, sensing, and control into systems engineered for reliability, speed, and scale. Our culture values simplicity, accountability, and disciplined execution — empowering every engineer to think systemically, act decisively, and build with purpose. Aggressive innovation. Disciplined execution. Strength among the stars.

We recently raised $8M in seed capital and are led by visionary founder and former Hermeus co-founder, Mike Smayda .

You will join Fortastra’s Engineering Division, responsible for the design, development, and test of flight systems across our autonomous spacecraft portfolio.

The Role

Fortastra is seeking a
Flight Software Engineer.As part of our early engineering team, your scope of work will focus on developing and integrating the flight software stack end-to-end — spanning ground-side mission operations tools, and vehicle-side embedded software. You’ll work closely with avionics, GNC, and systems engineers to help bring our vehicle from concept to flight.

Key Responsibilities

• Build mission operations software — the ground tools that plan, execute, and monitor missions in real time.
• Develop and integrate flight software for the vehicle — from architecture and implementation to test and flight readiness.
• Develop ground software services for telemetry, commanding, and visualization.
• Write embedded software for flight computers, sensors, and actuators.
• Collaborate with avionics, propulsion, and GNC teams to define software interfaces and data models.
• Contribute to flight software CI/CD pipelines, testing frameworks, and simulation environments.
• Support software-in-the-loop testing, hardware-in-the-loop testing, environmental testing, and flight campaigns.

Qualifications & Skills

• B.S. Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical, or other sciences and/or physics based degree
• Prior experience in systems and mission operations software
• Experience with ground software, mission ops, or telemetry/command systems.
• Experience with space systems - rovers, satellites, launch vehicles, etc.
• Familiarity developing embedded software for real-time or safety-critical systems (aerospace, robotics, automotive, or similar).
• Exposure to Dev Ops for embedded systems and automated testing pipelines.
• Familiarity with hardware-in-the-loop, fault tolerance, and safety-critical standards.
• Experience with cloud-based ground systems or mission control software
• Ability to work independently and in small, fast-moving teams.
• Work 5 days on-site in Torrance, CA.
• U.S. Citizenship and ability to obtain or have an active TS/SCI clearance (US Person considered)

Why Fortastra

We are a small, high-impact team building the next generation of autonomous orbital control systems for national security space. At Fortastra, leaders own outcomes from first principles through flight and directly shape the future of resilient, mission-critical spacecraft autonomy.

FORTASTRA TALENT & CULTURE PRINCIPLES

Values Driven by First Principles

We value engineers and operators who prioritize sound judgment, candor, technical rigor, bias for action, and intellectual honesty over corporate consensus. We care about the caliber of the system you build and the speed at which you solve problems.

Talent Density Over Headcount

A high-performing startup is built on dense talent, not organizational bloat. A single exceptional engineer designs, tests, and delivers faster than a bloated committee. We intentionally maintain a lean, elite engineering crew where every contributor directly moves the needle on the mission.

We hire domain experts to execute, not to micromanage them. You own your…