Lead Airborne Systems - Software Engineer IV (C++/Python)

Location: Broomfield, Colorado, United States. The role requires U.S. person status, willingness to fly on research aircraft, domestic and international travel for 2–3 weeks, and availability for irregular and early-morning deployment hours and on-call flight operations.

Hiring range: $140,970–$176,210 per year.

Company

hirify.global operates the Research Aviation Facility within NCAR's Earth Observing Laboratory, supporting atmospheric geoscience research with advanced aircraft, sensor suites, telemetry, and airborne computing infrastructure.

What you will do

• Define the architecture and technical roadmap for real-time airborne data acquisition, instrument control, signal processing, telemetry, remote operations, and cabin display systems.
• Lead and mentor software engineers and data managers, establish engineering standards, review code, and drive CI/CD, automated testing, and revision control practices.
• Design and maintain automated data quality control tools, flag-generation pipelines, post-flight processing frameworks, and standardized scientific data products.
• Lead field deployments, including embedded system configuration, network integration, low-level debugging, and onboard hardware and software troubleshooting.
• Maintain cybersecurity, secure development practices, network isolation, and mission integrity across airborne and ground systems.
• Work with scientists, flight crews, and instrument engineers while documenting architectures, operating procedures, security controls, and operational knowledge.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in a computer-related field or equivalent education and experience, typically including 12 or more years of relevant experience.
• Expert technical leadership experience in architecture, software modernization, roadmapping, and engineering mentorship.
• Advanced knowledge of real-time data acquisition, concurrent programming, low-latency networking, and multithreaded system design.
• Expert proficiency in C++ and Python on Linux, with experience in Git, unit testing, continuous integration, Docker, shell scripting, and embedded system integration.
• Experience integrating instruments through PCIe, USB, serial, or custom data acquisition interfaces and debugging at the system level.
• Must qualify as a U.S. person: U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual under 8 USC 1324b(a)(3).

Nice to have

• Linux kernel driver or kernel module development experience on embedded platforms.
• Qt or other cross-platform GUI development experience.
• Experience with airborne or atmospheric observations, geophysical or spatial/GIS datasets, and scientific Python or R pipelines.
• Experience with netCDF/CF, HDF, CF, ACDD, WMO, or NCAR-RAF/nimbus data standards.
• Knowledge of OWASP/CWE, system hardening, network isolation, data integrity, or digital signal processing.

Culture & Benefits

• Health, dental, vision, disability, retirement, leave, tuition assistance, and employee assistance benefits.
• hirify.global contributes 10% of base salary to the retirement plan.
• At least 20 days of annual paid time off, 10 paid holidays, and 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
• Tuition assistance and eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
• Structured overlap with the retiring incumbent to transfer undocumented system knowledge and operational practices.

Hiring process

• Submit a questionnaire and resume/CV by 12:00 a.m. MST on October 30, 2026.
• Selected candidates may undergo background checks and federal screenings.