Senior Software Engineer, Vehicle Management Systems
Costa Mesa · Costa Mesa, CA (OC-00) · USD 191,000-253,000 · 7+ years experience · Full-time · Posted Oct 19, 2026
At a glance
- Experience
- 7+ years experience
- Employment
- Full-time
- Location
- Costa Mesa · Costa Mesa, CA (OC-00)
- Salary
- USD 191,000-253,000 · Base salary
About the role
- You will own the Vehicle Management System for a maritime autonomous vehicle, designing the supervisory software that monitors health, manages modes, responds to faults, and coordinates across subsystems.
- Writing this logic means reasoning about failures during multi-day missions with no operator link where the VMS is the only thing deciding whether a degraded vehicle presses on, aborts, or surfaces.
Responsibilities
- Own VMS architecture: health monitoring, mode management, fault response
- Design vehicle state machines and operational mode transitions
- Develop fault detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR) logic
- Define VMS interfaces with GN&C, energy, communications, and mission systems
- Manage route planning and casualty monitoring functions
- Support SITL/HITL testing of VMS behaviors
- Interface with all vehicle subsystem leads on integration
- Support at-sea testing and validation
- Travel up to 25% to test sites
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent
- 7+ years of experience in vehicle management systems, flight management, or supervisory control software
- Experience with real-time embedded software for vehicle platforms
- Familiarity with FDIR design and operational mode management
- Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret security clearance
- Experience setting up an integration lab
Preferred qualifications
- Experience with AUV, UUV, or UAV management systems
- Working knowledge of safety-critical software design patterns
- Experience with C++ or Rust for embedded vehicle software
- Experience in defense or maritime robotics
- Experience doing a test and validation campaign
Benefits
- Comprehensive, competitive benefits package available at little to no cost to employees
- Highly competitive equity grants included in the majority of full time offers
Workplace
- Travel up to 25% to test sites
Skills
- C++
- Rust
