Senior PX4 Developer

Rainmaker Job Opportunity

Rainmaker builds systems to make it rain. Our autonomous drone fleets and weather modification platform operate worldwide: expanding freshwater supplies, protecting agriculture, and proving that cloud seeding works at scale.

You are:

A seasoned software engineer with a background in drone autonomy

Fast, thoughtful, autonomous, and opinionated

Willing to relocate to El Segundo, California

What you'll work on:

Contribute to our drone autonomy software stack end-to-end as a domain expert

Modify and extend PX4 firmware for custom use cases and flight behaviors

Develop firmware for embedded systems across power, peripherals, and sensing

Support simulation-based testing in Gazebo, HITL, and SITL environments

Assist with flight test support, log analysis, and software debugging

What we're looking for:

3+ years of professional experience developing software for PX4/ArduPilot systems

Experience shipping production code in Rust, plus C++ or Python

Experience developing firmware for ESP32, RP2040, or similar embedded targets

Comfort with low-level peripheral buses: CAN, UART, I2C, SPI

Experience with real-time pub/sub middleware (Zenoh, DDS, ROS 2, MQTT, or similar)

Working knowledge of MAVLink and typical autopilot integration patterns

$150,000 - $200,000 a year Benefits: Significant stock options with high potential upside as an early-stage company 401(k) with employer matching Full health coverage (medical, dental, and vision insurance) Relocation assistance provided (if applicable) Unlimited PTO Paid parental leave for both parents Lunch provided when working in-office and a fully stocked kitchenette Free EV charging at the HQ

Rainmaker is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Rainmaker is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

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