---
title: 'Embedded Firmware Engineering Intern at Reflect Orbital'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/embedded-firmware-engineering-intern-reflect-orbital-hawthorne-zv97y612kwr3'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Embedded Firmware Engineering Intern at Reflect Orbital

- **Company:** Reflect Orbital
- **Location:** Hawthorne, CA
- **Compensation:** $27–$31/hr
- **Employment:** internship
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-09-02
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/reflect-orbital/d5ade048-5555-4a77-b002-d117254b6e6b

## Job description

At Reflect, you will be expected to move fast, have a lot of ownership and, most importantly, be able to effect change. If this excites you, we are interested in hearing about your best work and accomplishments across any domain and from any points in your life.

## ABOUT THE ROLE

Reflect Orbital believes that talent is talent regardless of experience. If you seek an opportunity to solve hard problems and advance humanity, Reflect Orbital can offer that experience.

During your internship at Reflect Orbital you will be given as much responsibility as our full-time team-members. You work will contribute to directly to the success of our flying constellation.

Ideal candidates for internships will be comfortable facing challenges with no known solution, willing to be hands-on individual contributors, and able to commit to a minimum of 12 weeks in-person at our Hawthorne, CA office. We encourage all motivated and excellent candidates to apply regardless of the specific set of requirements you meet.

## RESPONSIBILITIES

- Own the design, development, analysis, manufacturing, and testing of novel spacecraft components.
- Build complete tools and testing setups, with an emphasis on fully completing and shipping your work.
- Prototype and iterate rapidly.

## IDEAL QUALIFICATIONS

- Experience in software development in languages like C, C++ and Python.
- Strong troubleshooting and debugging skills, including hands-on experience using tools like DMMs, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers and power supplies.
- Experience implementing device drivers and working with serial digital communication protocols such as SPI, I2C, UART, and Ethernet.
- You're capable of working highly independently, but you know when to seek guidance.

Even if you don’t meet 100% of the above qualifications, we are likely still interested in hearing from you. Hiring exceptional individuals is our #1 priority, and we believe that exceptional people often have highly unusual backgrounds.

We are also interested in carving out unique roles for unconventional people that we are excited about working with.

## BENEFITS

Reflect Orbital’s success will hinge on our team, which is why our compensation and benefits plan is designed to reward our employees and support their families as generously as we’re able.

- Unlimited paid time off
- Healthy lunches provided daily

## EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Reflect Orbital is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Reflect Orbital 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.

More about Reflect Orbital:

Learn more about our team here. https://www.reflectorbital.com/team

## About Reflect Orbital

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Reflect Orbital is building a constellation of orbiting mirrors to deliver concentrated sunlight on demand for energy, agriculture, and nighttime illumination.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A)
- **Headquarters**: Hawthorne, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2021
- **Founders**: Not publicly available

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: Space‑enabled infrastructure, renewable energy, agriculture, defense, urban lighting
- **Target customers**: B2B – solar farm operators, industrial sites, agricultural producers, defense contractors, municipalities, and event organizers
- **Mission**: "Make clean, abundant energy available on demand" and "unlock the sun’s full potential here on Earth"

## Products & Services
- **Energy Service**: Extends solar farm capacity factor by delivering reflected sunlight (adjustable intensity up to 36,000 lux, durations from minutes to hours). Aimed at dispatchable clean power without new ground infrastructure.
- **Lighting Service**: Provides on‑demand, precise illumination for agriculture (extend growing seasons), industrial sites, search & rescue, defense operations, and public experiences. Brightness ranges from 0.1 lux (full‑moon equivalent) to 100 lux (indoor work area) with configurable spot sizes.
- **Platform**: Access via app/website; the light can be turned off instantly and is fully adjustable.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding – $26.5M, with a $20M Series A raised approximately one year ago
- **Notable Investors**: Undisclosed (backed by "the best" per careers page)
- **Growth Signals**: Founded in 2021, raised significant Series A; plans to deploy initial 2 satellites for testing in 2026, scaling to 36 satellites by 2028 and eventually a constellation of 50k+ satellites by 2035.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Space‑based mirrors** – no ground infrastructure required, can illuminate any precise area on Earth on demand
- **Instant on/off** – light can be shut off quickly, preventing spillover and avoiding sensitive areas (e.g., observatories)
- **Adjustable intensity** – from moonlight to bright daylight, configurable via software
- **Safety design** – light cannot start fires or harm eyes; kept within requested service area
- **Dispatchability** – enables solar farms to generate power after sunset, improving capacity factor without land or storage

## Strategic Focus
- **Near‑term** (2026‑2028): Launch first test satellites, prove Energy Service for solar farms and Lighting Service for early adopters
- **Medium‑term** (2028‑2030): Scale constellation to hundreds of satellites, expand into agriculture, industrial, and defense markets
- **Long‑term** (2030‑2035): Reach full constellation of thousands of satellites, replace streetlights, reduce light pollution, and provide uninterrupted solar power globally

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Highly technical, ambitious, and fast‑paced environment. Described as solving "a problem most assume is impossible at planetary scale" with "extreme ownership, moving fast and learning and iterating in reality."
- **Work mode**: Hardware‑focused company located in Hawthorne, CA – likely on‑site; remote/hybrid policy not specified
- **Perks**: Not explicitly listed, but emphasis on working with top talent on groundbreaking technology with a clear, mission‑driven impact
- **Open roles**: Listed on [Ashby careers page](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/reflect-orbital) across engineering, science, and operations functions

## Sources
1. [reflectorbital.com](https://www.reflectorbital.com/)
2. [reflectorbital.com/careers](https://www.reflectorbital.com/careers)
3. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/reflect-orbital)
4. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/reflectorbital)
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/reflect-orbital)

## Other roles at Reflect Orbital

- [Electrical Engineering Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-engineering-intern-reflect-orbital-hawthorne-322vgde961hb) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Avionics Engineering Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/avionics-engineering-intern-reflect-orbital-hawthorne-wkema9kktx4m) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Flight Software Engineering Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/flight-software-engineering-intern-reflect-orbital-hawthorne-fx22t5mdtqqz) — Hawthorne, CA
- [GNC Engineering Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/gnc-engineering-intern-reflect-orbital-hawthorne-mnqg2k3ptcj6) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Mechanical Engineering Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineering-intern-reflect-orbital-hawthorne-y6s1grc6ggf3) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Thermal Engineering Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/thermal-engineering-intern-reflect-orbital-hawthorne-rh7x15z2j0n8) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Principal GNC Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-gnc-engineer-reflect-orbital-hawthorne-qcxe7s1zw44v) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Senior GNC Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-gnc-engineer-reflect-orbital-hawthorne-y1v5pbqpazwm) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Senior Ground Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-ground-software-engineer-reflect-orbital-hawthorne-r11tr118bgmw) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Principal Ground Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-ground-software-engineer-reflect-orbital-hawthorne-m7a5wykrj860) — Hawthorne, CA