Software Engineer, Mission Simulation

About the role

What we do

What you'll do

• Design and build a world simulation and sensor simulation stack that generates realistic EO/IR and environmental outputs, and integrates aircraft, autonomy, and external systems into a cohesive simulation environment.
• Lead the end-to-end development of the simulation stack while acting as a force multiplier across the autonomy team—contributing to perception and mission behaviors as needed to accelerate system progress
• Develop and maintain integration pipelines and infrastructure to continuously deploy software into simulation, run large-scale integrated tests, and evaluate system performance across mission scenarios.
• Integrate multi-system components (perception, planning, controls, comms) into cohesive simulation and test frameworks.
• Develop infrastructure to support multi-agent simulation (multiple aircraft, human-in-the-loop operators, and external systems).
• Own critical parts of the simulation stack end-to-end, from architecture to deployment to validation.
• Build tools to evaluate system performance, failure modes, and degraded conditions in safety-critical scenarios.
• Collaborate closely with engineers on autonomy, perception, and flight software to ensure simulation reflects real-world system constraints and behaviors.
• Enable real-time and faster-than-real-time simulation to support training, testing, and algorithm development.
• Drive system-level thinking, ensuring that simulation meaningfully represents interactions across subsystems and impacts mission success.

What we're looking for

• Strong experience in modern C++ for performance critical and safety critical applications 
• Experience with Python for simulation and test tooling
• Strong, practical experience with building, deploying, and debugging applications on Linux-based systems and environments (e.g. Docker Compose, CMake, Conan, gdb/Valgrind/memcheck)
• Experience working with or building simulation environments

Systems & Simulation Thinking

• Running and debugging a multi-host application and simulation environment 
• Experience with system integration across multiple software and hardware components
• Solid understanding of networking fundamentals (IP/subnet, TCP/UDP)
• Experience modeling or working with:
  • Distributed systems
  • Multi-agent systems
  • Real-time or near-real-time systems
• Understanding tradeoffs such as fidelity vs performance across the product as well as simulation as a whole

Execution & Ownership

• Proven ability to own a domain end-to-end in a fast-moving environment
• Able to prioritize work based on product impact, maintaining deep ownership while contributing where it most accelerates mission progress
• Strong bias for action—able to move from ambiguity to execution quickly
• Ability to break down large problems into tractable, deliverable components
• Treats engineering as a craft, continually refining skills and utilizing all available tools (code analysis, AI agents, etc) to design, own, and deliver high-quality, dependable systems

What will make you a great fit

• You’re excited about Rain’s mission to stop wildfires before they grow out of control
• You thrive in small teams, where you can see the immediate impact of your knowledge and expertise
• Experience with aerospace, robotics, or autonomy systems
• Comfortable working at the system boundary: networking (TCP/UDP, latency, packet loss), IPC, filesystems, and process orchestration
• Experience with real-time rendering, game engines, or simulation frameworks (e.g. Unreal Engine, AirSim, AFSIM)
• Understanding of geospatial reference systems (WGS84, ECEF, Local Tangent Plane, NAD83)
• Familiarity with fire modeling, environmental simulation, or geospatial systems
• Background in simulation for training or validation of AI/ML systems
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) or software-in-the-loop (SIL) systems
• You’ve served as a firefighter

Location

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