About Careertakes

👉 Important disclosure: Careertakes is a third-party recruiting platform supporting this hiring process. If selected, you will be employed directly by our client, Defense and Space Manufacturing.

Applicants for this role may also receive access to additional matched opportunities through the Careertakes platform.

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What You’ll Do

Confidential Client is hiring a Mission Software Engineer to join a team building deployed maritime autonomy and vehicle software. This role focuses on finding, reproducing, and fixing issues that appear in the field — not just triage. You will move from field bug to verified fix and help improve the ground-truth quality of the entire stack.

• Take a field-reported anomaly (sensor stopped publishing, mission faulted mid-track, data stream drifted) and locate the real subsystem at fault.
• Reproduce issues reliably using recorded sensor and mission data; replay data through the live pipeline and use visualization tooling rather than guessing.
• Use existing metrics and logging infrastructure (per-service metrics, dashboards, centralized logs) to reconstruct system state at failure time.
• Validate fixes in simulated environments first; use hardware-in-the-loop when necessary before any vehicle deployment.
• Implement fixes in the language the subsystem uses (Rust, modern C++, Python, Go, etc.) with tests and through CI/versioned rollout.
• Determine whether problems are bugs, configuration mismatches, or deployment issues and fix them at the correct layer.
• Document root cause and resolution for every issue closed to inform test coverage and runbooks.
• Push for systemic fixes when a patch would merely mask deeper subsystem issues.
• Travel approximately 25%+ for field work and testing.

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What You Need To Already Have

We’re hiring for strong systems debuggers who can operate in ambiguity and under time pressure. Domain experience in maritime/robotics is helpful but not required.

• Real experience debugging unfamiliar code under time pressure and with incomplete information.
• Comfortable reading and modifying code in at least two of: Rust, modern C++, Python, Go.
• Systems-debugging instincts: reconstruct events from logs/metrics and reproduce offline from recorded data.
• Hands-on familiarity with observability tooling (Prometheus/Grafana-class metrics; Loki/ELK-class logs).
• Strong Linux and systems fluency; experience with declarative/immutable OS setups (e.g., NixOS) is a plus.
• Clear, concise incident write-ups that state root cause and corrective action.
• Willingness to work close to hardware and sensors, and to travel ~25%+.

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Nice To Have (Not Required)

• Experience with robotics middleware, sensor drivers, or real-time pipelines (sonar, radar, lidar).
• Simulation-in-the-loop or hardware-in-the-loop test experience.
• CI/CD and versioned deployment experience for embedded or fleet software.
• On-call or field-support experience for hardware that ships to customers.

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Where This Can Lead

This role is a true entry point into cross-subsystem ownership. Engineers who excel here rapidly develop broad stack fluency and often move into subsystem ownership and roadmap leadership.

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Compensation & Benefits

US salary range: $166,000—$220,000 USD (base salary estimate). Actual offer depends on experience, skills, and other factors. Competitive equity is typically included in full-time offers. Confidential Client offers comprehensive benefits for full-time employees; details will be provided during the hiring process.

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Recruitment Safety & Data Privacy

Careertakes and Confidential Client will never ask for payment during the hiring process. Be cautious of unsolicited outreach asking for money or personal financial details. If something seems suspicious, verify the sender and contact your recruiter or Careertakes directly rather than responding to unknown requests.

By applying you may be asked to consent to pre-employment screening by third-party providers. Screening may include checks of open-source and commercial data sources in compliance with applicable law.

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Logistics & Employment Type

• Employment type: Full-time
• Location: Costa Mesa, CA (on-site / field work as required)
• Travel: ~25%+
• Industry: Defense and Space Manufacturing

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Equal Opportunity & Hiring Transparency

Careertakes and our client are Equal Opportunity Employers committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We prohibit discrimination or harassment of any kind. To support a fair and efficient hiring process, AI tools may be used to assist with application review or resume screening. These tools do not replace human decision-making. Final hiring decisions are made by people.

If you have questions about how your data is used, please contact us directly.