Boeing hires former SpaceX engineer for new software executive job

WASHINGTON — Boeing on Friday announced it hired Jinnah Hosein as vice president of software engineering, a new role at the aerospace giant.

The job will lead a centralized organization of engineers developing software across Boeing’s portfolio of products. Hosein will report to Greg Hyslop, Boeing chief engineer and senior vice president of engineering, test and technology.

“The continued advances in software makes excellence in software engineering an imperative for our business,” Hyslop said in a statement. “Jinnah will be charged with defining and leading Boeing’s strategy for software engineering, which includes providing capabilities, technologies, processes and secure and accurate systems to meet the needs of all our customers across the entire product life cycle.”

The creation of the new role comes as the U.S. Defense Department increases its own focus on software development. For instance, the Air Force now has its own software executive, and department executives routinely emphasize the idea of digital systems over hardware.

Hosein’s resume reads like a defense industry wish list of Silicon Valley stops. He worked as Google’s director of software engineering for cloud networking, helped design Tesla’s autopilot software and most recently worked as software lead for self-driving startup Aurora.

But it’s his experiences at SpaceX — where he was key to software development for the Falcon, Falcon Heavy, Dragon and Crew Dragon vehicles — that Boeing may look to draw from the most. Boeing and SpaceX have fiercely competed over NASA’s manned space programs, and SpaceX is a competitor for military space launches against the United Launch Alliance, which is co-owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

“Jinnah will be a transformational leader for Boeing,” Dave Calhoun, Boeing president and CEO, said in a statement. “Jinnah’s broad experience and fresh perspective will elevate our performance and accelerate the important work we’ve already begun in this area.”

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