Lead Flight Software Engineer - UAS Autonomy Controls

Round Rock or Fort Worth, TX | On-site

Join a well-funded, seed-stage defense technology startup developing low-cost unmanned aircraft systems for government and defense applications. With active government contracts and strong customer traction, the company is moving quickly through aircraft development, integration, and flight testing. We are seeking a Lead Flight Software Engineer to own the development, integration, and validation of the aircraft's flight software architecture. You will work across PX4, Ardu Pilot, and commercial flight control platforms to build a flexible, reliable software stack that supports aircraft autonomy, command and control, and integration with external systems.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role with significant ownership of the flight software architecture, from simulation and hardware-in-the-loop testing through flight readiness and software acceptance. You will work closely with avionics, navigation, and flight test engineers to develop software that performs reliably in real-world operating environments, including GPS-denied and contested conditions.

We are a venture-backed aerospace and defense startup building affordable, mission-ready unmanned aircraft systems. Our focus is on developing reliable, scalable platforms that can be manufactured efficiently and deployed to meet evolving defense requirements. Backed by significant seed funding and active government contracts, we are building a small, highly technical team to accelerate aircraft development, expand flight testing, and deliver operational capabilities to our customers.

• Lead the development, integration, and validation of flight software for unmanned aircraft, with responsibility for the architecture connecting flight controllers, companion computers, and external command and control systems.
• Establish and maintain software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test environments to support development, integration, and verification.
• Evaluate the existing flight software architecture, including build systems, configuration parameters, application interfaces, and dependencies on commercial flight control platforms.
• Develop software abstraction layers that reduce dependencies on proprietary flight control SDKs and enable integration with alternative flight software platforms.
• Build and maintain a parallel flight software stack using upstream PX4, supporting greater flexibility and control over the aircraft's software architecture.
• Develop interfaces and translation layers to support interoperability between PX4, Ardu Pilot, and other flight control systems.
• Define and maintain interface control documents (ICDs) governing communication between flight controllers, companion computers, and onboard systems.
• Develop and integrate command and control interfaces in accordance with applicable interoperability standards, including operator interface functionality and system behavior.
• Work with navigation and autonomy engineers to integrate flight software capabilities that support reliable operation in GPS-denied or degraded navigation environments.
• Develop and execute software verification procedures, troubleshoot integration issues, and support software acceptance testing and flight readiness reviews.
• Collaborate with avionics, embedded software, systems engineering, and flight test teams to resolve technical issues and validate aircraft performance.
• Maintain clear technical documentation covering software architecture, system interfaces, configuration management, and verification results.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Signific…