Principal Software Engineer, Mission Design

Description

The company is a space systems provider founded in 2021. It designs, builds and runs low Earth orbit satellite constellations that deliver data critical to customer missions.

The software organization needs a principal engineer who understands the full software architecture and its roadmap, and can match that against each prospective mission's specific needs to plan and design the software that mission requires.

You will shape how the common platform evolves so it serves customers and fits market demand, working closely with Business Development, Product Management, Systems Engineering and Hardware.

You will spot major risks early and find chances to give customers more than they expected to ask for.

You will help the software organization and the company as a whole deliver what customers need on schedule, so the company can complete their missions as partners.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Business Development to choose and staff small, high-impact projects that unlock significant customer value when done early, then drive them to a timely result.
• Make sure major common customer needs are reflected in organizational plans and the company's Product Roadmap.
• Steward the architectural standards and guardrails across the software organization, keeping teams fast to ship while protecting security, reliability and performance.
• Support the Customer Solutions Software Engineers in customer engagements, serve as escalation for the most important customer discussions and design questions, and speed up the whole group.
• Keep software plans and mission roadmaps aligned with the company's strategic framework.
• Help define training plans for software engineering.

Requirements

• Deep skill in whole-system design, holistic testing and deployment strategy, and current software engineering methodology.
• Extensive knowledge of theory and practice in aerospace, robotics or a closely related field.
• Strong negotiation skills in both organizational and technical settings.
• Expertise in multiple programming languages.
• Expertise in distributed systems theory and practice.
• Nice-to-have: expertise in C++ and Python.
• Nice-to-have: experience with AWS, Kubernetes, containers and related cloud technologies.
• Nice-to-have: experience with embedded software, high-performance computing, FPGA or related domains.
• Nice-to-have: experience with statistical analysis and/or machine learning.

Conditions

The salary range is $266,000 - $298,000, plus a competitive equity grant and a comprehensive benefits package. Final pay depends on skills, qualifications, experience and geographic location, as assessed during interviews.

The preferred location is on-site three days a week at the San Jose, CA office, though other locations will be considered for the right candidate.

The company is currently registered and able to hire in these states: AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IL, IA, ID, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA.

This role requires access to export-controlled information, so to conform to U.S. export regulations you must be one of: (A) a U.S. person, meaning a U.S. citizen or national, a U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder), a refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or an asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158; (B) eligible to access that information without a required export authorization; or (C) eligible and reasonably likely to obtain the required export authorization from the applicable U.S. government agency. The company may, for legitimate business reasons, decline to pursue any export licensing process.

Benefits

• Equity compensation for full-time employees.
• Medical, dental and vision insurance.
• 401k retirement plan.
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance and life insurance.
• Three weeks paid vacation for new employees, 12 paid holidays, unlimited sick time and paid parental leave.