Vehicle Software Engineer
Builds the software that operates Rainmaker's cloud-seeding drones — onboard services, mission planning and execution, failsafes, payload/sensor integration, and operator ground stations. Stack is Rust (plus C/C++), React/TypeScript in Electron, PX4 over MAVLink, on Linux, taken through simulation, flight testing, and field support in El Segundo, CA.
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- El Segundo, CA
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Not specified
- Employment
- Full time
- Experience
- 3+ years
- Category
- Software engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- 3+ years hands-on experience developing software for vehicles, robotics, or systems that interact with the physical world, including production/field deployment
- Demonstrated ownership of a software capability from design through integration, release, and ongoing support
- Strong systems programming skills in Rust or C/C++, with willingness to work primarily in Rust and contribute to TypeScript operator interfaces
- Experience developing and debugging software on Linux, including concurrent processes, network communication, and hardware/flight-control interfaces
- Practical experience in operator interfaces/ground stations, mission planning, autonomy, sensing, or payload integration
- Ability to reason about distributed system state, timing, and failures; implement robust state machines, fault detection, failsafes, and recovery paths
- Practical approach to operator-facing software: turning field workflows into clear controls and predictable behavior
- Experience building maintainable software with version control, reproducible builds, automated testing, and disciplined release practices
- Evidence of high agency: surfacing problems, deciding with incomplete information, closing the loop
- Clear communication and ability to work closely with hardware engineers and operators, including documentation
Nice to have
- Experience deploying drones or autonomous robots and supporting real-world flight or field operations
- Familiarity with PX4, MAVLink, ground-control systems, or flight-critical software
- Experience building operator interfaces with React, TypeScript, or Electron, especially mapping/geospatial mission-planning workflows
- Experience with sensor fusion, state estimation, path planning, or autonomous mission execution
- Experience integrating payloads, sensors, or embedded controllers over interfaces such as CAN, serial, or Ethernet
- Experience validating safety-related behaviors through simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, fault injection, and field testing
Full description
Make it rain. Make Snow. Make Earth Habitable.
Rainmaker builds and deploys audacious technologies that work with nature to create an abundant, habitable planet. We are modernizing proven cloud-seeding science with weather-resistant UAS, radar and satellite observations, numerical weather prediction, novel sensing and validation systems, and sustainable seeding technologies. We are building an integrated system to make more freshwater available to farms, ecosystems, and communities.
Our ambition is bold, but we pursue it with humility. We take on difficult problems in the real world with technical rigor, grit, integrity, and an openness to learning and course-correcting. We are hiring individuals with evidence of exceptional ability. If you want to build systems that endure, restore and deliver the future we were promised, we want to hear from you.
Make it rain. Make Snow. Make Earth Habitable.
Rainmaker builds and deploys audacious technologies that work with nature to create an abundant, habitable planet. We are modernizing proven cloud-seeding science with weather-resistant UAS, radar and satellite observations, numerical weather prediction, novel sensing and validation systems, and sustainable seeding technologies. We are building an integrated system to make more freshwater available to farms, ecosystems, and communities.
Our ambition is bold, but we pursue it with humility. We take on difficult problems in the real world with technical rigor, grit, integrity, and an openness to learning and course-correcting. We are hiring individuals with evidence of exceptional ability. If you want to build systems that endure, restore, and deliver the future we were promised, we want to hear from you.
The vehicle software team builds the software that operates Rainmaker’s cloud-seeding vehicles, connecting flight control, onboard computing, sensors, payloads, and ground operations. We work closely with electrical, mechanical, manufacturing, and flight operations teams to turn new hardware into reliable systems that can be built, deployed, and operated at scale. Our goal is to make every vehicle a dependable tool for delivering more freshwater where it is needed.
About the Role
- You will own vehicle software capabilities from the operator interface to the onboard systems that execute a mission. Your work will span ground stations, mission planning and execution, failsafe behaviors, sensing, payload and sensor integration, and autonomy. You will build software that helps operators make good decisions, lets vehicles carry out missions reliably, and handles failures predictably. You will take projects from architecture and prototyping through simulation, hardware integration, flight testing, deployment, and field support. We’re looking for a high-agency engineer who identifies what needs to happen, turns incomplete requirements into a clear plan, and follows through until the system works reliably in real operating conditions. This is a hands-on technical ownership role with the autonomy to shape the vehicle software and the responsibility to deliver it.