Vehicle Software Engineer – Rust Controls

At Stoke, we believe a thriving space economy will enable a vibrant, sustainable, and equitable future here on Earth. That is why we’re building Nova, our fully and rapidly reusable launch vehicle. Designed for daily flight, Nova tackles the core challenges of space transportation by reducing cost, increasing availability, and improving reliability. By radically lowering launch costs and increasing flight cadence, we’re helping create a truly scalable space industry.

Our team is mission-driven, collaborative, and empowered to take ownership of their work. If you want to work alongside some of the most dedicated and talented people on Earth, we’d love to have you join us.

Description

Automation links the Vehicle Software ecosystem to hardware intent. As a Rust Controls Engineer, your primary focus will be building an automation framework that lets end users compose vehicle behavior from building blocks you own. These building blocks will be used daily across the company to perform benchtop checkouts, engine hotfires, and flight objectives. You will define the right boundaries and guardrails to enable users to navigate a control language that is operationally flexible yet appropriately restrictive. You will also own pieces of automation, dogfooding your building blocks as your software commands the physical world around it.

You must be ready to stay focused, move fast, self-direct, and learn on the fly.

Responsibilities

• Design useful abstractions for hardware control behavior in a distributed system
• Create user-facing guardrails for an autonomy ecosystem
• Develop ground and vehicle automation
• Build software tests
• Support hardware test

Qualifications

• Experience with Rust and Python
• Strong systems-thinking approach with the ability to navigate complex, distributed software-hardware interactions
• Strong math background
• 2+ years of professional experience in software development, controls, or systems engineering
• Ability to prioritize, self-direct, and ask for help

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with control theory and laws
• Software language or compiler background

Benefits

• Equity – We know that our employees are the reason we succeed. To give everyone a stake in our future, we are pleased to offer equity in the form of stock options to all regular, full-time employees.
• Comprehensive benefits program including subsidized medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Company-paid life and disability insurance
• 401(k) plan with employer match
• 4 weeks’ Paid Time Off
• Holidays – 10 days (including an end-of-year closure)
• Paid Family/Parental Leave
• On-site gym or monthly wellness stipend (depending on location)
• Dog friendly offices!

Compensation

Target Levels:

• Level 2 range: $123,480 - $185,220
• Level 3 range: $154,350 - $231,525
• Level 4 range: $192,885 - $289,380

Our job posts are intentionally written to attract a wide variety of experience levels, and we make decisions about the right fit on a per-candidate basis.

Your actual level and base salary will be decided based on your specific experience and skill level.

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Separate from this I-9 process, this position entails access to certain technology and technical data that is restricted under U.S. export control laws and regulations. Employment or continued employment may be conditioned on your legal authorization to work with or have access to export control materials as necessary to perform your job.

Candidate Rights & Accommodations

For more information about your rights, please refer to the "Know Your Rights" notice here .

For more information on the right to work, please refer to the poster here .