Hybrid Ground Segment Engineer – Airborne Systems

at Hermeus

• Job title: Ground Segment Engineer – Airborne Systems
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Senior, Lead
• Salary: $140,000 - $190,000 per year
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Tech skills: Cloud, JavaScript, Python, TypeScript
• Location requirements: Hybrid, Los Angeles, United States

About the role

• Ground Segment Engineer designing and integrating operator-facing mission control software for high-speed aircraft. Collaborating on airborne systems with a focus on national defense and operational readiness.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement GCS and operator interface software: develop user interfaces, command pathways, mission planning integrations, real-time visualization tools, and operator workflows for a Ground Control Station (GCS); ensure seamless flow of mission planning outputs, autonomy tasking inputs, and vehicle telemetry into intuitive, stable UI components implemented in modern software frameworks.
• Integrate OMS and UCI services into ground systems: implement Open Mission Systems (OMS) and Universal Command and Control Interface (UCI) services, message exchanges, subscriptions, and telemetry pathways within GCS and debrief applications; ensure strict schema adherence, correct service behaviors, and deterministic handling of command and telemetry messages.
• Develop and maintain mission data pipelines: design and implement onboard and ground-side data logging solutions, message brokers, telemetry collectors, timestamping and synchronization logic, and metadata tagging methods; ensure mission data from autonomy, Vehicle Management System (VMS), communications systems, sensors, and operator actions is time-aligned and traceable.
• Implement debrief, playback, and analysis capabilities: develop or integrate mission playback tools supporting 2D/3D visualization, timeline navigation, annotations, multi-source event reconstruction, autonomy behavior visualization, and correlation of telemetry with operator and subsystem actions.
• Develop cross-domain workflows and secure data handling processes: implement workflows and software functions for packaging, sanitizing, annotating, and transferring mission data between classification domains; enforce metadata tagging, integrity checks, and cross-domain solution (CDS) requirements.
• Develop APIs, data translators, and telemetry decoders: write Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), protocol adapters, schema validators, message translation tools, and ingestion pipelines to integrate airborne mission systems with ground software, cloud data platforms, and debrief tools.
• Integrate ground systems into simulation and HITL environments: embed GCS and debrief software into Software-in-the-Loop (SITL), Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL), and Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) frameworks; build simulation adapters that emulate telemetry flows, autonomy outputs, communications behaviors, and mission phase transitions.
• Implement event tagging, metadata standards, and evidence pipelines: build logic to capture autonomy transitions, operator actions, communications events, subsystem faults, and timing discrepancies; ensure data is structured to support verification, validation, regression testing, and detailed flight-test debrief.
• Debug and refine ground-software and data interactions: use logs, telemetry traces, streaming data analysis tools, and simulation outputs to diagnose issues in UI workflows, schema parsing, timing behavior, data integrity, or playback fidelity; implement code fixes and architectural improvements.
• Collaborate across autonomy, mission systems, airborne software, and test teams: ensure ground-segment workflows and software interfaces correctly represent autonomy states, mission logic, and real-time aircraft behavior; incorporate test and operator feedback to mature ground systems iteratively.
• Communicate integration and ground-segment readiness: provide updates on GCS development, data-system stability, cross-domain readiness, simulation integration, and flight-test preparedness to the Lead Systems Integration Engineer, Product Engineering Lead, and program leadership.
• Generate end-product deliverables for internal and external customers: produce high-quality, traceable, and review-ready engineering artifacts including documentation, reports, data packages, analysis outputs, integrations, and configuration updates that meet program requirements, support design reviews, and satisfy customer or partner expectations.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field with a strong software focus.
• 8+ years of experience developing mission-system interfaces, operator software, telemetry systems, or distributed data architectures for unmanned systems, aerospace platforms, or mission operations environments.
• Strong proficiency in software development with experience in languages such as C++, Python, C#, or JavaScript/TypeScript for UI, backend, and data systems development.
• Demonstrated expertise integrating Open Mission Systems (OMS) and Universal Command and Control Interface (UCI) services, schemas, and message catalogs into ground software.
• Experience building real-time telemetry pipelines, data loggers, message brokers, and synchronization frameworks for time-series mission data.
• Hands-on experience developing mission playback tools, visualization systems, or multi-source event reconstruction applications.
• Familiarity with cross-domain workflows, data sanitization pipelines, metadata standards, and secure data-management practices.
• Experience integrating ground software into Software-in-the-Loop (SITL), Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL), or Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) testbeds.
• Ability to design and maintain APIs, schema translators, telemetry decoders, and automated interface verification tools.
• Proficiency with software development tools including Git, continuous integration pipelines, automated testing frameworks, and debugging tools.
• Strong ability to analyze logs, telemetry, operator actions, and simulation traces to diagnose issues and refine system behavior.
• Experience collaborating with autonomy engineers, airborne software teams, mission systems engineers, test personnel, and operator representatives.
• Active Secret clearance required; Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) preferred.

Benefits

• 100% employer-paid health care
• 401k & Retirement Plans
• Unlimited PTO
• Weekly Paid Office Lunches
• Fully stocked breakrooms
• Stock Options
• Paid Parental Leave