Hardware/Software Integration Engineer

About Otto Aerospace

OTTO is developing the world’s first fifth-generation business jet, designed for sustainability through the innovative use of advanced super-laminar aerodynamics and high-precision, net-shaped composites. Flight tests of our technology demonstrator validate a dramatic reduction in fuel burn and allow a sizeable improvement in cabin comfort. Otto Aerospace is designing world-class aircraft from first principles physics and delivering ground-breaking aircraft and economic performance.

About the Role

SuperNatural Vision (SNV) reimagines the cabin window: in place of small portholes, the Phantom 3500 SuperNatural Vision Infotainment System (SNVIS) gives passengers expansive, camera-fed digital “windows” — an unbroken, high-resolution view of the world outside, seamlessly blended with immersive infotainment. This is a deeply hands-on role for an engineer who lives at the seam between hardware and software: you’ll be the person in the lab with a display panel in one hand and a terminal in the other — wiring cameras and screens, standing up compute nodes, writing and debugging the orchestration code that drives them, and chasing a single dropped frame from the GPU decoder all the way to the glass. You will take SNV from the Class B engineering bench, through the cabin-representative Class A mockup, toward flight-worthy production hardware — owning integration, bring-up, and verification at every step. If you want your fingerprints on a system passengers will remember for the rest of their lives, this is it.

What You'll Do

• Integrate and bring up SNV hardware in the Costa Mesa lab — external cameras, 4K/8K OLED display assemblies, multi-node compute, managed networking, and power/thermal subsystems — from first power-on to synchronized, full-wall playback.
• Build, extend, and debug the orchestration software that ties it together: a Python (FastAPI + Socket.IO) orchestrator, a React/TypeScript Mission Control UI, native Rust “launch-agent” services on the Mac display nodes, and PowerShell / Bash / AppleScript automation across Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• Own the media pipeline end to end — hardware-decoded mpv/VLC playback, ffmpeg transcode (HEVC/H.264, NVENC/VideoToolbox), and per-panel content split across 7680×2160 dual-panel window spans.
• Wire, label, and document the physical system — HDMI/Thunderbolt video, USB touch, Cat6/PoE networking, and UPS/PDU-backed power — keeping interface control documents, cable schedules, and bills of materials configuration-controlled and matched to as-built.
• Stand up and operate the X-Plane 12 simulation environment used to stimulate the wall — networked EXVI master/slave visuals, XPPython3 dataref plugins, and multi-node camera views — so the team can test realistic out-the-window imagery without leaving the lab.
• Develop and run verification — quantify frame drops, GPU-decode utilization, sync, and latency with the SNV Validation Suite (pytest, GPU telemetry, statistical analysis) and generate traceable reports against requirements.
• Diagnose the hard, cross-domain problems — a wall that won’t span, a node that won’t hold a camera view, a decode stall on a 27 GB asset, a Mac that drops off the managed switch — and drive each to root cause.
• Partner across teams and vendors — camera, display, compute, and CMS/avionics groups, plus external build/fab partners (such as the Roush cabin mockup) — to align interfaces and hit integration milestones.
• Help mature the system toward certification — supporting DO-178C / DO-254 / DO-160G artifacts and DAL-D discipline as SNV transitions from lab to flight hardware.
• Other duties as assigned

Who You Are

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field — or equivalent hands-on experience.

Experience

• 3-5+ years integrating hardware and software together — bringing up boards, displays, cameras, or compute and writing the code that drives them.
• Strong programming in Python, plus working ability in at least one of TypeScript/JavaScript, Rust, C/C++, or shell/PowerShell.
• Fluency with lab hardware and instrumentation — display and video interfaces (HDMI / DP / Thunderbolt), networking (Ethernet, managed switches, VLANs), USB, and power (UPS/PDU); comfortable with a multimeter, DAQ, oscilloscope, and a label maker.
• Cross-platform command of Windows, macOS, and Linux, and the automation glue between them (SSH, scripting, scheduled services).
• A documentation mindset — schematics, interface control documents, cable schedules, BOMs, and configuration control.
• Relentless, structured troubleshooting across the hardware/software boundary, and the patience to make a complex system genuinely reliable.
• Legally authorized to work in the U.S. and able to work on-site in Costa Mesa, California.
• Working exposure to the SNV toolchain — Python 3.11+ (FastAPI, Uvicorn, python-socketio, asyncio), TypeScript/React 18 with Vite and TailwindCSS, Rust (axum/tokio) node services, mpv / VLC / ffmpeg with NVDEC/NVENC and NVIDIA Mosaic, X-Plane 12 with XPPython3, and pytest-based verification on GitHub Actions self-hosted runners. You won’t need all of it on day one, but you’ll be fluent across most of it before long.
• Preferred — real-time video and media engineering (GPU-accelerated decode/encode, mpv / ffmpeg internals, color and HDR, multi-display synchronization); video-over-IP and timing (SMPTE ST 2110, NMOS, PTP/IEEE 1588, NDI, genlock); and camera and imaging systems (sensors, lenses, calibration, stitching, low-light / night-vision imaging, and computer vision with OpenCV).

• Preferred — aerospace or regulated development (DO-178C, DO-254, DO-160G, ARP4754A / ARP4761A, ARINC 429 / 664, and Design Assurance Level concepts); platform internals (Apple silicon / macOS launchd, Metal, TCC; NVIDIA Mosaic and NVDEC/NVENC; or embedded / RTOS work); and cabin systems integration with cabin management systems (CMS), IFE, or avionics.

Where You'll Be

This role is on-site at our SuperNatural Vision integration lab in Costa Mesa, California, where the SNV hardware lives. Occasional travel to our Fort Worth, Texas headquarters and to vendor and build-partner sites is expected. One morning you might be calibrating an eight-panel OLED wall and stitching live camera feeds across it; that afternoon, tracing a sync glitch through the orchestrator or bringing a fresh compute node online for the Class A build — hands on the system, not behind a wall of abstraction.

Benefits

Otto Aerospace provides a robust benefits package that includes competitive salaries, subsidized medical, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k) opportunities, paid short term disability, voluntary long-term disability and additional term life, with 15 paid days off, 13 paid company holidays, and paid sick leave. Depending on seniority and role, some roles qualify for potential bonuses and stock options.

Otto Aerospace is an Equal Opportunity Employer

We are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in every aspect of our hiring process. All applicants will be considered for employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or disability. We believe that a diverse team brings fresh perspectives, innovative ideas, and greater success. The more inclusive we are, the stronger we become. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the U.S.