Backend Engineer, Satellite Mission Ops

Loft Orbital; Toulouse; Hybrid; EUR 60,000 - 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 to Toulouse, SF, &

Relocation assistance to Toulouse

Job summary

Loft Orbital is seeking a Backend Engineer to join our 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, our mission control system.

You will write production Python code, work across satellite platforms, and collaborate with flight software, embedded systems, test, and space infra teams.

Qualifications

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

Responsibilities

• 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 safety, robustness, and observability in focus.
• Write production backend code in Python, owning services end-to-end from design 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 by improving APIs, workflows, and debugging tools.
• Have the opportunity to take part in spacecraft operations through SatDevOps rotations and real-time incident support.

Skills

Python

Backend development

API design

Tools

Docker

Django/Flask/FastAPI

Job description

Loft Orbital is seeking a Backend Engineer to join our 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, our mission control system.

You will write production Python code, work across satellite platforms, and collaborate with flight software, embedded systems, test, and space infra teams.