Staff Flight Software Engineer
North Kingstown, Rhode Island
Engineering – Software /
Full-Time /
On-site
At REGENT, we’re on a mission to revolutionize regional transportation between coastal cities. We're not just building vehicles, we're creating a new category of transportation: the seaglider. These groundbreaking wing-in-ground-effect craft travel just above the water’s surface, combining the speed of an airplane with the low operating costs of a boat. Capable of 180 miles at 180 mph on today's battery tech (and up to 400 miles with next-gen batteries), seagliders will unlock fast, affordable, and sustainable coastal transit for passengers and cargo - connecting cities, islands, and communities like never before.
Backed by leading investors and powered by a team of passionate, forward-thinking engineers, builders, and operators, we’re now scaling from a breakthrough prototype to full production - and building the team to make it happen.
Role Overview
As a Staff Flight Software Engineer, you’ll lead the development of safety-critical avionics software for REGENT’s seaglider. These vehicles operate hull-borne, foil-borne, and wing-borne - demanding flight software that is simultaneously innovative, robust, and certifiable. You’ll own software spanning real-time control, mode logic, sensor and actuator integration, health monitoring, and inter-processor communications, ensuring it performs flawlessly under the toughest conditions.
You’ll define the plans, processes, and evidence required for safety-critical software across teams and criticalities, and drive approvals with classification societies and flag/state authorities. Along the way, you’ll architect partitioned RTOS-based systems with strict timing and isolation standards, stand up certification-ready CI/CD pipelines, and lead requirement-based verification through SIL, HIL, and full-scale sea trials. Working across disciplines - controls, avionics, systems, and testing - you’ll help define the future of flight software for amphibious mobility.
If you’re energized by working at the intersection of cutting-edge innovation, real-world impact, and hands-on engineering, you’ll be in the right place - and we’d be thrilled to have you on the team!
What You'll Do
- Own the Software Certification Path: Lead the full software certification and assurance plan - spanning development, verification & validation, configuration, and quality - and guide staged reviews with class societies and regulators through approval.
- Architect Robust Systems: Define partitioned RTOS architectures, including time and memory partitioning, inter-process communication, timing budgets, and health monitoring to ensure safety and reliability under all conditions.
- Build and Review Flight Software: Establish interfaces and MISRA-style coding standards, design for determinism and fault tolerance, perform thorough code and design reviews, and directly implement or prototype critical avionics modules in C/C++.
- Ensure Compliance with Rigor: Drive adherence to industry and regulatory standards across varying criticalities, maintaining requirements–design–test traceability, separation of roles, and compliance evidence at every stage.
- Validate in Simulation and at Sea: Lead verification campaigns including robustness and fault-injection testing, requirements-based testing, MC/DC analysis, SIL/HIL on representative hardware, and structural coverage.
- Qualify Tools and Methods: Select and qualify development and verification tools under DO-330, documenting constraints and mitigations to ensure compliance and reliability.
- Manage External Software with Care: Govern SOUP and COTS acceptance, ensuring supplier evidence and mitigations meet safety-critical standards.
What You'll Bring
- Extensive experience in safety-critical software development under DO-178C (ideally DAL A/B), with a proven track record leading SOI preparation and closure
- Deep expertise in RTOS and partitioned systems, including scheduling, WCET/jitter analysis, inter-partition communication, and real-time health monitoring.
- Proven C/C++ flight software excellence, with hands-on experience in concurrency, memory management, and numerical robustness — able to design, implement, and review production-grade code.
- Fluency in CI/CD for safety-critical programs, ensuring artifact control, provenance, on-target coverage, and fully reproducible builds.
- Strong systems mindset with ARP4754A grounding, skilled in requirements decomposition, interface definition, and hazard-driven design.
- Exceptional communicator and technical writer, able to align diverse engineering teams and regulatory stakeholders around complex safety-critical systems.
Bonus Experience
- Familiarity with advanced avionics architectures and standards, including DO-297/ARINC-653, hypervisor/IMA, DO-254, and DO-160 compliance
- Hands-on experience with tool qualification and model-based methods, including DO-330, DO-331, and back-to-back testing for safety-critical workflows
- Proficiency with safety middleware and fault-tolerant systems, including DDS, monitors, voters, and watchdog implementations
- Expertise in verification and performance instrumentation, including MC/DC closure on target and timing analysis/profiling
- Practical maritime and sea-trial experience, validating software performance in real-world operational conditions
Who We're Looking For
- Collaborative Team Player: You believe that great things happen when teams work together. You communicate effectively and collaborate with engineers, stakeholders, and other cross-functional teams to align on goals and move projects forward. You bring people together, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and moving towards a shared vision.
- Creative Problem Solver: You thrive on tackling complex challenges and finding innovative solutions. Whether it’s architecting partitioned RTOS systems, solving complex certification challenges, or ensuring deterministic real-time flight software, you tackle every problem with ingenuity and rigor. You balance solving today’s technical needs while designing for future scalability and reliability in autonomous systems.
- Adaptable & Agile: In a dynamic, ever-evolving startup environment, you quickly adapt to changing priorities and requirements. You approach challenges with a calm, resilient mindset, and know how to pivot and adjust your approach as needed, ensuring that progress continues without missing a beat.
- Innovative Mindset: You’re driven by curiosity and a passion for technology. You’re passionate about driving continuous improvement, embracing new technologies and methodologies to enhance efficiency, quality, and team performance.
What We Offer
- Competitive compensation including a robust equity incentive plan.
- Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance - we cover 100% of your premiums.
- 401(k) with company matching, so you can plan for the future.
- Generous flexible time off, paid parental leave, and company-wide holiday breaks.
- Relocation packages available for those moving to join our team.
- Daily, free catered lunches
- Learning & professional development opportunities
If you’re ready to take on an exciting challenge, grow with us, and make a lasting impact, we want to hear from you. Even if you don’t meet every requirement, but you see yourself contributing to our mission, we encourage you to apply! We value diverse skillsets and experiences and believe in the potential of passionate individuals to make a big impact.
Equal Opportunity Employer
REGENT is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive work environment. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law.
