Principal Ground Software Architect — Constellation Automation

Reflect Orbital; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Broad medical/dental/vision coverage

HSA, FSA, and 401K

Unlimited PTO

Healthy lunches provided

Job summary

Reflect Orbital is seeking a Principal Satellite Ground Software Engineer to set the technical direction for the ground segment and scale operations from single satellites to a constellation. You will oversee architecture decisions, deploy and operate the stack, and mentor a growing team.

The role requires hands-on leadership across software, networks, and hardware, with a focus on reliability, observability, and secure, scalable ground infrastructure.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in a technical field.
• 10+ years building ground systems software and related services.
• Experience directing technical direction for real-time ground infrastructure or similar.

Responsibilities

• Define ground segment architecture and roadmap: command/telemetry, ground station network, data infra, automation.
• Decide build/buy/extend for C2, mission planning, fleet management, and GSaaS providers.
• Design for constellation scale with automated scheduling and telemetry.
• Set engineering practices across ground/flight interfaces and testing infra.
• Lead ground segment work through launches, commissioning, and anomalies.
• Instill security into ground segment from the start: key management, access controls.
• Mentor engineers, review designs/code, and support hiring.

Skills

Ground systems

AWS & Kubernetes

Linux

Python/C++/Rust

Networking

Satellite ground

CI/CD

Education

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science or related

Tools

AWS

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Job description

Reflect Orbital is seeking a Principal Satellite Ground Software Engineer to set the technical direction for the ground segment and scale operations from single satellites to a constellation. You will oversee architecture decisions, deploy and operate the stack, and mentor a growing team.

The role requires hands-on leadership across software, networks, and hardware, with a focus on reliability, observability, and secure, scalable ground infrastructure.