Senior Software Engineer – Autonomous Air Systems (Avionics)

Orb Aerospace

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Lowell, MI on site Until 8/22/2026 First posted March 26, 2025 Last posted March 26, 2025
Job description
US Citizen or Permanent Resident 
In-Person 
Fall 2026 Start
 
Join us in building aircraft at scale, reindustrializing the Midwest, and turning autonomous aircraft into decentralized infrastructure. Orb is a small mission-driven team where your initiative, creativity, and dedication will be used to reach every village on the planet with power, logistics, and communications.
 
Your Role at Orb:
Orb is building software-hardware-integrated air platforms. This position will lead the design and of world class microelectronics, sensors, and edge compute devices. This position will develop firmware and interface with software primarily in Rust.

Key Responsibilities

  • Design and integrate autonomy into edge computing systems
  • Develop and test software solutions within Software-in-The-Loop and Hardware-in-The-Loop environments
  • Leverage existing mesh network hardware to support real-time communication
  • Collaborate with interdisciplinary project teams
  • Lead and mentor a small software team while balancing multiple projects
  • Implement modern DevOps practices

Required Qualifications

  • Minimum 7+ years working in a strongly typed language (Rust preferred)
  • Proficiency in a Linux development environment
  • Understanding of data structures, algorithms and code optimization
  • Experience in most or all of the following areas:
  • o   SLAM
  • o   Robotics / ROS
  • o   Vision Systems (OpenCV)
  • o   Localization
  • o   Control systems

Preferred Qualifications

  • BS or MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent experience.
  • Embedded software development and hardware debugging experience
  • Experience developing autonomous systems
  • Experience with bandwidth-limited networking
About Orb Aerospace[AT1] [CC2] [AT3] : Orb was started with the mission to bring aviation to the 80% of the world that’s never had it; turning autonomous aircraft into tools to decentralize infrastructure, connect continents, protect soldiers, provide for families, and run economies. “Less like the flying taxis, more like the flying cowboys,” Orb is at the intersection of manned and unmanned aviation, reindustrializing the Midwest, and building the future we know is possible and want to live in.  
 
About Node One: Node One is a small team of engineers and operators who have dedicated their lives to solving some of the world’s hardest problems through a new kind of aviation. Orb’s live-work-fly R&D HQ. Node One is all about reducing the cycle time to design, build, and fly aircraft from years to months and building the systems and platforms we’ll use to reach every village on the planet. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Their great work allows us to accomplish ours. If you’ve been a rocket/airplane nerd and have a passion for designing, building, and flying airframes, autopilots, power systems, and embedded systems, or you love to push a new product through new manufacturing methods to a new market, come join the team at Node One and make history.
 
Orb Employees Are:
·         High Agency and Biased Towards Action
·         Have a History of Self-Starting, Pacing, and Finishing Projects
·         Thrive with Autonomy to Design New Solutions to Partially Defined Problems
·         Are Curious and Continue Learning
·         Can Represent the Company to Stakeholders and Customers Forward Deployed
·         Have Integrity and a Desire to Serve Others
Standard Benefits Package:
·         Orb provides a monthly flat rate towards medical, dental, and vision
o   $500 flat rate for individuals; $850 flat rate for married/family
·         Medical, Vision, Dental, Short/Long Term Disability, and Group/Voluntary Life Insurance
·         Opt-In 401K Options (Pre-Tax or Roth) with a 3% Employer Match
 
Perks:
·         Support in Getting your Pilots License and Ratings
·         Support for Continuing Education
·         Annual Customer Demos all over the World

Compensation (from employer):
105000–135000 USD per year

About this role

Summary

Lead design of autonomous aircraft software and hardware; mentor team; develop in Rust and Linux.

Job title

Senior Software Engineer – Autonomous Air Systems (Avionics)

Experience level

7+ years

Industry

aerospace

Location requirements

On-site in Lowell, MI; in-person work required.

Salary

105000–135000 USD per year

Management role

No

Skills & keywords

Required skills

rustlinuxdata structuresalgorithmsSLAMROSOpenCVlocalizationcontrol systems

Preferred skills

embedded softwarehardware debuggingautonomous systemsbandwidth-limited networking

Specializations

autonomyembedded systemsroboticsvision systemscontrol systems
Locations

Structured locations inferred from the posting.

Lowell, MI 49331, USA

On-site City
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