Ground Software Engineer Senior - Security Clearance; Field-Based) - Grand Forks

York Space Systems; Grand Forks Air Force Base (ND); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Unlimited PTO

401(k) match

Holidays

Job summary

York Space Systems is seeking a Senior Full Stack Software Engineer to develop and maintain a modern web-based application (React/TypeScript, C# .NET) with a Docker/Kafka-based microservice backend. You will work embedded at a Mission Operation Center, on-site, collaborating with Denver team for features and longer-term work.

You will own end-to-end delivery, write tests, and mentor colleagues while communicating across time zones.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of full-stack software engineering experience.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary technical resource for your local MOC, providing direct support to operators and resolving issues with a high degree of independence.

Skills

React

TypeScript

C#

REST APIs

SQL

Git

Kafka

Python

InfluxDB

MSSQL

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

Tools

Docker

Job description

York Space Systems was founded to radically improve spacecraft affordability and reliability, transforming, and enabling next- generation space mission operations worldwide. Today, York is one of the most innovative aerospace companies, specializing in end-to-end customer solutions and the rapid production of spacecraft platforms. York’s complete Space Segment Solution includes spacecraft production, payload integration, system integration & test, launch services, ground segment services, and mission operations, enabling customers to leverage York’s existing technology solutions to get to orbit rapidly and responsively. We’re looking to expand our team across the board.

York is seeking a Senior Full Stack Software Engineer who thrives working independently and is passionate about building software that pushes the bounds of what's possible. Our software is a modern web-based application (React/TypeScript, C# .NET) with a microservice infrastructure (Docker, Kafka, REST) that operators use to monitor and control constellations of spacecraft across several active missions.

In this role, you will be embedded at or near a Mission Operation Center (MOC) local to you, serving as the primary technical point of contact for that facility. You'll operate with a high degree of autonomy — often as a team of one or two — while staying closely integrated with our primary office in Denver, CO for feature development, technical direction, and longer-term project work.

This is not a traditional office role. You must be comfortable owning problems end-to-end without immediate peer support, communicating proactively across time zones, and context-switching between hands-on operational support and collaborative product development.

About The Work

• You'll work closely with satellite operators, customers, and the Denver engineering and UI/UX teams to tackle hard problems like:
• Collision avoidance, conjunction analysis, and orbit-raising maneuver planning
• Operation center failover and continuity of control
• Cross-satellite network maintenance and space-to-ground link management
• Ground station contact scheduling and pass optimization
• Multi-vehicle mission coordination

Your work will be deployed in a MOC where it will directly support active missions in orbit.

Prior Space-industry Experience Is Not Required.

Position Details

• Team structure: Field-based; typically 1–2 engineers on-site, integrated with a remote team of 6–8 developers
• Remote Policy: On-Site
• Travel: Must be willing and able to travel to Denver, CO for onboarding, training, and periodic team collaboration
• On-Call: Must be available for on-call support to serve the MOC local to you

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary technical resource for your local MOC, providing direct support to operators and resolving issues with a high degree of independence
• Provide on-call support for mission-critical operations by responding to incidents and escalations at your assigned facility
• Integrate remotely with the Denver ground software teams for feature development, longer-term technical work, sprint ceremonies, and cross-team coordination
• Develop key user-facing features to support both current and future missions using TypeScript, React, C#, MSSQL, InfluxDB, Kafka, and Python
• Translate designs and requirements into high-quality, maintainable code
• Build reusable components, shared libraries, and scalable services for use across the platform
• Engineer algorithms and business logic to promote scalability and automation
• Write unit and integration tests, including tests against simulation tools to validate behavior against realistic mission scenarios
• Write documentation for internal users and customers

Team Leadership

• Act as the technical face of the engineering team at your local site, building strong relationships with operators and customers
• Mentor junior engineers (on-site or remote) through code reviews, pair programming, and design discussions
• Contribute to sprint planning, technical scoping, and cross-team alignment with the distributed engineering organization
• Communicate proactively and clearly with remote teammates. Written communication and async collaboration are essential in this role
• Help establish and advocate for engineering best practices across the team

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field
• 6+ years of full-stack software engineering experience
• Active Secret security clearance
• Demonstrated ability to work independently with minimal day-to-day supervision and comfort operating as a primary technical resource without immediate peer support
• Strong remote collaboration skills with experience working effectively as part of a geographically distributed team, including async communication and documentation habits
• Demonstrated ability to independently troubleshoot and resolve deployment failures, runtime issues, and environment-specific defects, including in isolated and/or air-gapped environments without immediate escalation paths
• Deep expertise in strongly typed backend languages, particularly C#, including multithreaded applications, concurrency patterns, and near-realtime data handling
• Experience designing and consuming REST APIs at scale
• Experience with SQL databases, including schema design and query optimization
• Experience with Git in a collaborative, multi-contributor environment
• Willingness and ability to provide on-call support for operational facilities
• Ability to travel to Denver, CO for onboarding, training, and periodic team visits
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including presenting technical concepts to non-technical audiences
• Proven ability to thrive in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment with ambiguous requirements

Preferred Qualifications

• Eligibility for Top Secret security clearance
• Proficiency in modern React and its core principles, including component architecture and performance optimization
• Proficiency with common front-end tooling such as Yarn, Babel, or Material-UI
• Experience working across a polyglot stack including Python, Kafka, and InfluxDB
• Experience with modern state management tools such as TanStack Query
• Experience designing and executing forward and backward compatible database migrations and deployment strategies in live production environments
• Experience with feature flagging strategies, including gradual rollouts, environment-based toggles, and flag lifecycle management
• Experience with container-based installation and deployment strategies, including Docker and CI/CD pipeline integration

In compliance with local law, we are disclosing the compensation, or a range thereof, for roles in locations where legally required. Actual salaries will vary based on several factors, including but not limited to external market data, internal equity, location, skill set, experience, and/or performance.

Benefits

• 100% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance (subject to spousal surcharge).
• Company holidays, floating holidays, and sick time.
• Unlimited PTO.
• Generous 401(k) match.