Software Engineer

ABOUT ROCKET LAB

Rocket Lab is the end-to-end space company building rockets, spacecraft, and critical subsystems that keep the world connected, protected, expand humanity’s reach to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. We move fast, build real hardware for meaningful missions, and make the impossible routine. Come shape the future with us.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Neutron is Rocket Lab's new, medium-lift, reusable launch vehicle currently under development. The Neutron Flight Safety Systems team develops Neutron's on-board Flight Safety System, responsible for actively monitoring flight progress and terminating flight if safety criteria are not satisfied.

Based in Auckland, NZ, the Software Engineer will develop and maintain safety-critical software on Neutron's autonomous Flight Termination System (FTS). The FTS interfaces with navigation systems, monitors and projects vehicle state, and activates termination systems if necessary. Alongside flight code, you'll build the services, tools and interfaces that support development, testing, simulation and operations across the programme.

This is a mid-level role within a small, focused team. You'll be working to established development plans and coding standards, with the senior engineers around you reviewing your work and helping you build the certification and safety-critical experience that very few engineers anywhere get access to.

WHAT YOU'LL GET TO DO:

• Develop flight code for Neutron's Flight Termination System in accordance with documented software development plans and coding standards.
• Write unit tests for flight safety systems software, and develop support code for build, deployment, unit testing, system testing, simulation, data analysis and operations.
• Contribute to software requirements, architecture, design and algorithms, and document the assumptions and dependencies that go with them.
• Develop and maintain traceability between software requirements, design, implementation and verification activities.
• Document interfaces between flight safety systems software and its underlying hardware and interfaced equipment.
• Participate in internal and external reviews of software and supporting artifacts, and prepare technical reports for internal and external stakeholders.
• Participate in formal and informal testing, analysis and reporting.
• Contribute to identifying, documenting and mitigating flight safety system risks, and support system safety assessment activities.
• Support test automation, and support integration of the flight safety system into integrated test, launch vehicle and launch operations.