Backend Engineer - Mission Operations Services

Loft Orbital; Toulouse; Hybrid; EUR 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Up to 35 days PTO and flexible hours

Health and life insurance

Lunch vouchers

Cross-office travel (SF, CO, Toulouse)

Relocation assistance to Toulouse

Job summary

Loft Orbital is seeking a Backend Engineer to join the Mission Operations Services team. You will design and scale backend services that enable Loft operators and customers to command, monitor, and automate our satellite fleet through Cockpit.

You will work across satellite platforms with backend, flight software, and operations teams, writing production Python, using Docker, and integrating new satellite buses to Cockpit while supporting real-time mission operations.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of backend software engineering in production environments.
• Solid Python development experience in production systems.
• Experience with Docker and container-based development.
• Hands-on backend web development with frameworks such as Django, Flask, or FastAPI.
• Proven API design skills (HTTP/GraphQL/REST).

Responsibilities

• Design and build backend tools for operations powering passes, autopilots, activities, and day-to-day satellite ops.
• Handle commands and telemetry across multiple satellite buses with safety and observability focus.
• Write production backend code in Python, owning services end-to-end from design to deployment.
• Collaborate with flight software, embedded software, and test teams to integrate new buses.
• Support internal Cockpit users by improving APIs, workflows, and debugging tools.
• Participate in SatDevOps rotations and assist real-time incident response when needed.

Skills

4+ years backend experience

Python development

Docker

Backend web frameworks (Django, Flask,

API design (HTTP/GraphQL/REST)

Tools

Kubernetes

InfluxDB/TimescaleDB

Job description

Loft Orbital is looking for a Backend Engineer to join our Mission Operations Services (MOS) team. MOS owns the backend services that let Loft operators and customers command, monitor, and automate our satellite fleet through Cockpit, our mission control system. You’ll help build and scale the microservices that sit between ground and flight software, turning high‑level intent into safe, reliable on‑orbit operations.

You’ll work across multiple satellite platforms and collaborate closely with backend, flight software, embedded systems, test, and satellite operations teams. This is a hands‑on engineering role where you’ll both build new systems and help debug live missions. We also offer SatDevOps training, so you don’t just write the tools - you actually use them to operate spacecraft.

If you’re excited about building backend systems that directly control satellites - and you like the idea of both shipping code and helping fly missions - we’d love to hear from you.

About This Role

• Design and build backend tools for operations: services that power passes, autopilots, activities, and day‑to‑day satellite operations
• Handle commands and telemetry across multiple satellite buses and ground segment providers, with a strong focus on safety, robustness, and observability
• Write production backend code in Python, owning services end‑to‑end from design and implementation through deployment and maintenance
• Collaborate with flight software, embedded software, integration and test, and space infrastructure teams to integrate new satellite buses and capabilities into Cockpit
• Support internal users of Cockpit (operators, test engineers, solutions engineers) by improving APIs, workflows, and debugging tools
• Have the opportunity to take part in spacecraft operations through SatDevOps rotations, occasionally helping investigate anomalies and supporting real‑time incident response when needed

Must Haves

• 4+ years of relevant backend software engineering experience in production environments
• Solid Python development experience in a production environment
• Experience with Docker and container‑based development
• Hands‑on experience with backend web development frameworks (e.g., Django, Flask, FastAPI, etc.)
• Proven API design skills (designing, documenting, and maintaining HTTP/GraphQL/REST‑style APIs)

Nice to Haves

• Experience with Django and/or GraphQL
• Strong database fundamentals and practical experience (e.g., Postgres, time‑series DBs)
• Exposure to Kubernetes in production
• Familiarity with InfluxDB / TimescaleDB or other time‑series systems
• Background in mission‑critical, distributed, or real‑time systems (space or otherwise)

Some of Our Awesome Benefits

• Equity, we want you to have an active role in our success
• Up to 35 days of Paid Time Off (vacations & RTT ) and flexible working hours, we want you to be at your best
• Health and life insurance, we care about your health
• Lunch Vouchers, because let’s be honest, we love food! (we even have a slack channel about it #loft-gourmand)
• Cross-office travel opportunities between San Francisco, Colorado, and Toulouse to learn from our differences
• Company and team off-sites and many other events to work & celebrate together
• Relocation assistance to Toulouse when applicable

Who We Are:

Founded in 2017, Loft provides governments, companies, and research institutions with a fast, reliable, and simple way to deploy missions in orbit.

We integrate, launch, and operate spacecraft, offering end-to-end missions as a service across Earth observation, IoT connectivity, on‑orbit AI, national security missions, and more. Leveraging our existing space infrastructure and an extensive inventory of satellite buses, Loft is reducing years‑long integration and launch timelines to months. With more than 30 missions flown, Loft’s flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives.

With a growing fleet on track to reach 30 satellites by 2027, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France to meet accelerating demand for space infrastructure.

• Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other underrepresented people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications. At Loft, we value respectful debate and people who aren’t afraid to challenge assumptions. We strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don’t check all the boxes

Who We Are

Loft: Space Made Simple.

Founded in 2017, Loft provides governments, companies, and research institutions with a fast, reliable, and simple way to deploy missions in orbit.

We integrate, launch, and operate spacecraft, offering end-to-end missions as a service across Earth observation, IoT connectivity, on‑orbit AI, national security missions, and more. Leveraging our existing space infrastructure and an extensive inventory of satellite buses, Loft is reducing years‑long integration and launch timelines to months. With more than 30 missions flown, Loft’s flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives.

With a growing fleet on track to reach 30 satellites by 2027, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France to meet accelerating demand for space infrastructure.

As an international company your resume will be reviewed by people across our offices so please attach a copy in English. We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.