Christopher Heistand
Director Of Vehicle Software at Flight Software Workshop
Seattle, Washington, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolChristopher Heistand is a vehicle software leader with nine years of engineering and management experience building flight and ground systems for high-stakes aerospace missions. Currently Director of Vehicle Software at Stoke Space and General Chair for the Flight Software Workshop, he has led teams that delivered flight software for NASA's DART impactor and helped pioneer DevOps and advanced testing frameworks in spacecraft integration. His background spans hands-on flight software architecture, vehicle-level software management, and rapid prototyping from his USAF days designing SDR-based space control platforms. Known for tackling “crazy” technical challenges—from wideband software-defined radios to reusable rockets—he pairs pragmatic systems engineering with a research mindset that has secured internal IR&D funding and produced peer-reviewed work. Based in Seattle, he blends operational rigor with a knack for bringing modern software practices into safety-critical aerospace programs.
9 years of coding experience
9 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor of Science (BS), Computer Science, Bachelor of Science (BS), Computer Science at University of MarylandMaster of Science (M.S.), Computer Science, Master of Science (M.S.), Computer Science at University of Colorado Colorado Springs
Github Skills (24)
snap9
gnu8
linux8
yocto7
android7
yocto-layer6
runner6
bsp6
nvidia5
nvidia-jetson5
rocket5
continuous-testing5
jetson4
tegra3
watchdog2
Programming languages (5)
Github contributions (5)
Atomicchipmonk/wifibroadcast
Apr 2017 - Dec 2018
Contributions:7 pushes, 1 branch in 1 year 8 months
Atomicchipmonk/smart_battery
Dec 2020 - Jun 2021
48v power system for off grid solar systems
Contributions:4 PRs, 22 pushes, 3 branches in 6 months
batterysolaroff-gridphotovoltaicpower-system
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