Software and Satellite Operations Quality Assurance Engineer

United States Digital Space LLC; Glasgow; On-site; GBP 63,000 - 93,000; Full time

Job summary

United States Digital Space LLC is seeking a Software Quality Engineer to own software QA across the development lifecycle and provide quality oversight during satellite commissioning and operations. You will work with software, systems engineers, and spacecraft operators to ensure on-orbit software and satellites perform as designed.

The role emphasizes rigorous QA processes, root-cause analysis, and coordination across teams to manage non-conformances and drive improvements, including

Qualifications

• BSc/MEng in Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• 3+ years in a software QA, systems engineering, or mission assurance role within a highly regulated industry.
• Proven track record of contributing to investigations and fault finding of complex systems.
• Familiarity with version control systems (e.g. Git) and issue tracking tools.
• Understanding of software development lifecycles (Agile and/or waterfall) and associated QA activities.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain software QA processes, standards, and acceptance criteria for onboard and ground segment software across the full development lifecycle.
• Ensure software verification and validation activities are comprehensive and correctly executed.
• Ensure the Software Development Lifecycle meets applicable quality requirements and standards.
• Raise, track, and manage non-conformances, ensuring corrective and preventive actions are identified and implemented effectively.
• Lead anomaly investigations and coordinate with operations and engineering teams to resolve issues.

Skills

Software QA

Fault finding

QA processes

Agile/Waterfall

Education

BSc/MEng in related technical discipline

Tools

Git

Issue tracking

Job description

We are seeking a skilled and motivated Software Quality Engineer to join our Mission Assurance team. This role sits at the intersection where software quality meets in-orbit operations, offering the opportunity to drive the operational performance of a satellite constellation. The role has two facets, you will own software quality assurance activities across the development lifecycle and also provide quality oversight to the team operating our constellation of satellites during commissioning, operations, and anomaly response. As the company implements its development roadmap, the distinction between these two aspects will blur with satellite operations increasingly transitioning to automated AI/ML tools to manage the fleet.

The ideal candidate combines a rigorous, process-driven approach to software quality with an analytical mindset and operational awareness to allow them to ensure on-orbit anomalies are investigated and resolved effectively.

This is a broad remit, so previous experience in both areas is not required. For example, a strong software QA background in a demanding industry (e.g. banking, medical, defence) will likely also have developed the analytical mindset needed to investigate on orbit issues. You will work closely with a fantastic team of software engineers, systems engineers, technical experts and spacecraft operators to ensure that our software and satellites are fit for purpose and that deviations from expected behaviour are understood, reported, assessed, and resolved with sound engineering judgment.

What You'll Do as Software & Satellite Operations Quality Engineer:

Software Quality Assurance (Primary Focus):

• Define and maintain software QA processes, standards, and acceptance criteria for onboard and ground segment software across the full development lifecycle.
• Ensure that software verification and validation activities are comprehensive and correctly executed.
• Ensure that the Software Development Lifecycle meets applicable quality requirements and standards.
• Where situations require deviation from defined process, ensure that this is performed safely and in a controlled manner.
• Raise, track, and manage non-conformances, ensuring corrective and preventive actions are identified and implemented effectively.
• Ensure risks are identified, evaluated and communicated effectively to the project and management team.
• Ensure that the software configuration baseline is maintained throughout development and mission lifetimes.
• Confirm all software releases are reviewed and compliant to standards.
• Contribute to process improvement initiatives and ensure compliance with applicable standards (e.g. ISO 29110, ECSS-Q-ST-80, ECSS-E-ST-40, or equivalent).

Satellite Operations (SatOps) Anomaly Support:

• Provide Mission Assurance support to satellite operations, especially during critical mission phases such as Checkout and Commissioning, In-Orbit Verification and anomaly response.
• Lead and contribute to anomaly investigations, root cause analyses, and failure review boards, ensuring findings are well-documented and lessons are captured.
• Ensure the mission impact of anomalies is assessed and operational workarounds, corrective actions and recovery steps are appropriate.
• Identify links between incidents and coordinate response to common anomalies across the fleet.
• Ensure lessons learned are fed back to satellite development teams using non-conformance and corrective action processes.
• Liaise with software development, systems engineering and satellite operations teams to continually improve satellite operations tooling, improving Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery (FDIR), increasing automation and raising the availability of the satellite fleet through transition to AI/ML based systems.
• Serve as the mission assurance interface to the operations team, software engineers, and systems engineers during anomaly investigations and resolution.

Basic Qualifications:

• BSc or MEng in Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• 3+ years of experience in a software QA, systems engineering, or mission assurance role within a highly regulated industry (e.g. aerospace, defence, banking, medical).
• Proven track record of contributing to investigations and fault finding of complex systems.
• Familiarity with version control systems (e.g. Git) and issue tracking tools.
• Understanding of software development lifecycles (Agile and/or waterfall) and associated QA activities.
• Clear and concise communicator, able to present technical findings to diverse