Senior Software Engineer - Avionics - AQNav

About SandboxAQ

SandboxAQ is a high-growth company delivering AI solutions that address some of the world's greatest challenges. The company’s Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) power advances in life sciences, financial services, navigation, cybersecurity, and other sectors.

We are a global team that is tech-focused and includes experts in AI, chemistry, cybersecurity, physics, mathematics, medicine, engineering, and other specialties. The company emerged from Alphabet Inc. as an independent, growth capital-backed company in 2022, funded by leading investors and supported by a braintrust of industry leaders. 

At SandboxAQ, we’ve cultivated an environment that encourages creativity, collaboration, and impact. By investing deeply in our people, we’re building a thriving, global workforce poised to tackle the world's epic challenges. Join us to advance your career in pursuit of an inspiring mission, in a community of like-minded people who value entrepreneurialism, ownership, and transformative impact. 

About the Role

Sandbox AQ’s AI/quantum navigation (“AQNav”) team is looking for a highly accomplished, veteran software engineer to assist with designing, implementing, and testing robust, avionics-certifiable, production-grade software for the AQNav system. A successful candidate must be comfortable owning the end-to-end lifecycle of both internal and external facing software systems and applications and have significant industry experience bringing products through all lifecycle phases from conception to production, deployment, and maintenance. Fresh off being named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2024 and Fast Company’s 'Next Big Thing in Transportation,' we’re expanding our team to drive the future of navigation. If you're a visionary engineer seeking to make a real-world impact, join us as we redefine how the world finds its way.

Knowledge of best practices for the U.S. Department of Defense and/or the Intelligence Community will be considered a plus. The candidate will be part of a diverse team consisting of physicists, engineers, and machine learning experts, where they will play a key role in the efficient and effective enablement of the technologies being developed.

What You’ll Do

• Serve as a technical expert to guide, lead, and mentor a growing team of engineers to support the successful development and deployment of software. Uphold quality and efficiency standards for the team. Advocate for and lead efforts to implement industry best practices.
• Own roadmaps for developing long-term and stable requirements, verification/validation, and software solutions to advanced problems.
• Design, implement, and test complex software systems for a world-class AI/quantum-based magnetic navigation system (“AQNav”). Work may include tasks such as development/maintenance of internal tooling and libraries, integrating the AQNav system with external avionics systems, and automating and streamlining routine complex processes.
• Drive compliance of AQNav real-time software to DO-178 certification.

About You

• 10+ years of professional experience in software development (preferred) or data science (preferred), systems engineering, robotics, systems analysis, or other related fields. 
• BS in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent field of study.
• Experience working on certified avionics software systems (e.g. DO-178); a successful candidate will leverage this experience to advise the AQNav team on best practices to ensure successful software certification.
• Strong expertise in both Python and C/C++. Additional experience with other languages (Java, HTML/CSS, Rust, Bash scripting, etc.) preferred.
• Long, successful history of bringing software from initial conception through to architecture, development, testing, release into production, and maintenance.
• Proficiency in software development methodologies and best practices (e.g., Agile practices, CI/CD, test-driven development.)
• You can diagram and specify requirements at system, subsystem, and component levels to aid in the finalization of design decisions; this includes responsibility for design documentation such as software architecture, software specification documents, and testing plans.
• Ability to work closely with other development and cross-functional team members.
• Strong Linux fundamentals (bash scripting, operating system configuration) and familiarity with common developer and devops tools such as Ansible, Chef, Terraform, Git, Github, and the Atlassian suite tools Jira and Confluence.

Job Requirements

• U.S. Citizenship is required due to US Government contract requirements.
• Must be able to obtain and hold a DOD Secret level security clearance.
• Willing and able to travel both within the continental US and internationally as required (less than 20% of the time) to support customer engagements, meet with contracting partners, and attend customer product demonstrations.

Nice to Haves

• MS or PhD in Software Engineering, Computer Science or equivalent experience.
  • Equivalent experience includes tech leadership in a complex space, driving technical design and execution cross-collaboratively across multiple teams and organizations.
• Experience working with one or more Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) such as SafeRTOS, RT Linux, RedHawk, and/or VxWorks (SafeRTOS preferred).
• Knowledge of aerospace applications and environments.
• Experience with software development and interfaces on the cloud (e.g GCP, AWS).

The US base salary range for this full-time position is expected to be $154k-$256k per year. Our salary ranges are determined by role and level. Within the range, individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. This role may be eligible for annual discretionary bonuses and equity.

SandboxAQ welcomes all.

We are committed to creating an inclusive culture where we have zero tolerance for discrimination. We invest in our employees' personal and professional growth. Once you work with us, you can’t go back to normalcy because great breakthroughs come from great teams and we are the best in AI and quantum technology.   We offer competitive salaries, stock options depending on employment type, generous learning opportunities, medical/dental/vision, family planning/fertility, PTO (summer and winter breaks), financial wellness resources, 401(k) plans, and more.    Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status.   Accommodations: We provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities in job application procedures for open roles. If you need such an accommodation, please let a member of our Recruiting team know.