Head of Vehicle Software

Head of Vehicle Software

Location: Long Beach, CA (On-site)

Build the software that flies the future.

We're partnering with one of the world's most ambitious Space companies to find a Head of Vehicle Software to lead the development of the software that powers next-generation launch vehicles.

This isn't a traditional engineering management position. We're looking for a leader who remains deeply technical, someone who enjoys solving complex engineering challenges, drives architectural decisions, and works closely with engineers to deliver mission-critical flight software.

If you've built and shipped software for highly autonomous, safety-critical systems and want to lead an exceptional team while remaining at the centre of the technical decision-making, we'd love to hear from you.

What You'll Do

• Lead the Vehicle Software organisation responsible for the architecture, development and delivery of launch vehicle software.
• Own the technical direction of vehicle software across the full development lifecycle, from concept through flight.
• Partner closely with avionics, GNC, propulsion, systems, hardware and test engineering teams to deliver tightly integrated vehicle capabilities.
• Drive software architecture, design reviews and technical decision-making across multiple vehicle programmes.
• Mentor and develop a high-performing team of software engineers while maintaining strong technical engagement.
• Champion engineering excellence, code quality, testing, verification and continuous improvement.
• Support vehicle integration, qualification, launch operations and post-flight analysis where required.
• Help recruit and build one of the strongest vehicle software teams in the industry.

What We're Looking For

• Significant experience developing embedded or vehicle software for complex, safety-critical systems.
• Proven leadership of high-performing software engineering teams.
• Strong background in software architecture and technical leadership.
• Experience delivering software for launch vehicles, spacecraft, automotive, robotics, aviation or similarly demanding real-time systems.
• Deep understanding of modern software engineering practices including verification, testing, simulation and hardware/software integration.
• Comfortable making difficult technical decisions and taking ownership of software performance across the entire vehicle.
• Passion for working in a fast-paced environment where technical excellence and rapid iteration are expected.

Ideal Backgrounds

We're particularly interested in engineers who have built products within high-performance engineering organisations, including:

• Commercial space
• Advanced automotive and autonomous vehicles
• eVTOL
• Robotics
• High-performance autonomous systems

Why Join?

• Lead software development for one of the most advanced launch vehicle programmes in the industry.
• Own technical direction rather than simply managing people.
• Work alongside world-class engineers solving some of aerospace's hardest technical challenges.
• Influence vehicle architecture from concept through launch.
• Join a fast-moving engineering culture where technical leadership is valued above hierarchy.
• Competitive compensation, equity and comprehensive benefits.

If you're a technical leader who enjoys staying close to the engineering while building exceptional teams, we'd love to speak with you.