Associate Software Engineering Specialist at Redwire Defense Tech
San Luis Obispo, CA
$54,080
Jul 26, 2026
San Luis Obispo, CA
Jul 27, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
An entry-level position supporting software, firmware, and autonomy engineering teams at a defense technology company in San Luis Obispo. Day-to-day work centers on running test procedures across simulation environments and hardware rigs, capturing logs, maintaining lab equipment, and writing basic scripts to automate repetitive tasks. Well-suited to candidates with limited professional experience but foundational exposure to scripting, version control, and command-line environments.
Junior level · San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA · Full-time
Pay in the description: $26/hr
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 10 people in the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software quality assurance analysts and testers). range 6–15
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $131,571 (middle half $95,587–$169,170). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (9)
The role title 'Software Engineering Specialist I' and the explicit 'entry-level' framing, 0–2 years experience window, and close-supervision context all firmly place this at the Junior band.
Primary day-to-day work is executing test procedures, capturing logs, and supporting test environments — pointing to 15-1253 (QA/Testers). However, the role also involves scripting assistance and environment maintenance, which has some overlap with 15-1252 (Software Developers); 15-1253 is the better fit given the test-execution focus.
Python is listed under Required Qualifications with 'basic proficiency with at least one scripting language (Python preferred)' — treated as a hard gate on scripting ability with Python as the named primary. Bash and PowerShell appear in both required and preferred sections as scripting alternatives.
Linux/Windows CLI navigation is listed as a required qualification; both are named as interchangeable environments.
Git is listed as required ('Familiarity with Git or similar version control systems'); 'or similar' means the specific tool is interchangeable but the capability is a hard gate.
HIL systems, simulation environments, robotics/UAV experience, and networking/messaging protocols appear only under Preferred Qualifications.
The ITAR/EAR compliance note requires US person status documentation but does not gate on a US government security clearance — no clearance is required.
The salary is stated as a single point ($26.00/hr), so min and max are both set to 26.00.
High school diploma or GED is the only hard-required credential; the AA/certificate is listed as preferred, so the degree requirement is set to None.
Read the full posting
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