Staff Ground Software Engineer
Leads architecture and development of mission-critical backend systems for spacecraft command, telemetry, mission planning, and operations. Requires 8+ years of software development experience, distributed-systems and cloud-native expertise, and technical leadership.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Define, design, and build next-generation mission control systems for spacecraft operators.
- Shape architecture, set technical direction, build core services, and mentor engineers.
- Design systems that support massive telemetry streams, high throughput, globally distributed operations, low latency, resilience, fault tolerance, observability, and security.
- Architect platforms for spacecraft operations, including real-time satellite visualization, orbital-mechanics prediction, mission-sequence automation, and multi-spacecraft control interfaces.
- Build reusable platform modules that scale across customer missions.
- Evolve internal systems into products for government and commercial partners.
- Architect uplink/downlink processing systems handling terabytes of data daily.
- Build mission-planning infrastructure for Earth observation, non-Earth imaging, and communications satellite constellations.
- Lead software engineering from concept through orbit-ready systems and set technical direction.
- Engage satellite operators and mission planners to translate operational challenges into software solutions.
- Architect mission-critical Mission Control, autonomy, AI/ML integration, and data-pipeline systems.
- Collaborate with Astrodynamics, Flight Software, Hardware, AI/ML research, and spacecraft-operations teams.
- Drive architectural decisions and simplify satellite operations.
- Support on-call operations and, when needed, alternate or extended shifts and travel.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- 8+ years of software development experience, with a record of leading projects or teams.
- Expertise in backend development and designing, building, and testing complex systems.
- Expertise in cloud-native architectures and distributed systems.
- Experience operating live commercial SaaS products.
- Experience with on-call support for mission-critical operations.
- Eligibility for Top Secret (TS/SCI-eligible) clearance.
Nice-to-haves
- Active US security clearance.
- Proficiency in Go.
- Kubernetes expertise.
- AWS expertise, including EKS, EC2, Batch, S3, and Lambda.
- Experience with data engineering and real-time processing.
- Passion for space exploration.
Compensation and Benefits
- Annual salary: $175,000–$225,000 USD.
- Company stock/equity.
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and dependents.
- 401(k) plan with a 3% employer direct contribution.
- Paid vacation, personal, sick days, and holidays.
- Paid parental leave.
- Employee Assistance Program.
- Professional development, training, workshops, and courses.
- Team-building activities and company-sponsored events.
- The position may involve access to technology subject to U.S. export controls; applicable authorization requirements apply.
Skills
Go, Kubernetes, AWS, Amazon Eks, Amazon Ec2, Aws Batch, Amazon S3, AWS Lambda, Distributed Systems, Cloud-Native Architecture, Data Engineering, Real-Time Processing, Backend Development, Telemetry, AI/ML
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