Lead Automation Engineer - Optical Ground Stations

PLP Group; Phoenix (AZ); Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous equity

Competitive healthcare

401(k)

Unlimited PTO

EEO & Reasonable Accommodations

Job summary

Azora is building high-bandwidth optical ground infrastructure for space and defense missions. We seek a seasoned automation engineer to architect the control backbone for autonomous ground stations, leading a small team and coordinating across global sites.

You will design end-to-end automation, hardware interfaces, calibration and tests, and champion modern software practices while traveling for field deployment.

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical/Mechatronics or related field.
• 5+ years building automation or control software for physical systems (robotics, observatories, test automation, industrial control).
• Strong programming skills in Python and at least one systems language (C++, Rust, or Go).
• Experience with hardware interfaces and protocols: serial, Ethernet/IP, Modbus, CAN, or similar.
• Demonstrated experience taking automation systems from prototype to reliable 24/7 operation.

Responsibilities

• Architect and implement end-to-end automation for ground station operations: target acquisition, pass execution, weather-driven decision-making, and safe-state recovery.
• Develop hardware control software for telescopes, gimbals, weather sensors, and optical bench instrumentation (motion controllers, cameras, power systems).
• Build automated calibration, self-test, and built-in-test (BIT) routines that keep stations operational without on-site staff.
• Design monitoring, alerting, and remote diagnostics infrastructure across multiple geographically distributed sites.
• Define interfaces between site-level automation and the network-level scheduler/orchestration layer.
• Establish software engineering practices for the automation stack: CI/CD, hardware-in-the-loop testing, simulation environments, and release management.
• Build, lead and mentor a small team of automation and controls engineers as the ground network scales.

Skills

Python

C++

Rust

Go

Hardware interfaces

Automation software

Team leadership

Education

BS/MS in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical/Mechatronics

Tools

INDI/ASCOM

MQTT/ZeroMQ/gRPC

NTP/PTP

CAN/Modbus/Ethernet/IP

Job description

Azora is building high-bandwidth optical ground infrastructure for space and defense missions. We seek a seasoned automation engineer to architect the control backbone for autonomous ground stations, leading a small team and coordinating across global sites.

You will design end-to-end automation, hardware interfaces, calibration and tests, and champion modern software practices while traveling for field deployment.