Senior Earth Observation Engineer

Loft Orbital; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Flexible Time Off

401(k) plan & Equity

Relocation assistance (where needed)

Parental leave

Office lunches & snacks

Job summary

Loft Orbital, the Earth observation and space infrastructure company, seeks a Senior Earth Observation Engineer to own optical payloads, image quality, and mission performance across Loft's growing fleet. You will define requirements, drive development, support calibration and delivery of imagery, and help build the data processing foundation for sellable products.

You will collaborate with mission teams, suppliers, and customers to ensure high-quality imagery, robust calibration, and scalable

Qualifications

• 5+ years of demonstrated space systems engineering experience on earth observation missions.
• Familiarity with image quality metrics and imagery calibration (geometric, radiometric, spectral, etc.).
• Experience with optical payloads.
• Proficiency in Python (≥1 year).
• Strong communication and organizational skills.
• Able to challenge norms in aerospace engineering and testing; comfortable in a fast-paced environment.
• Hands-on approach to work under pressure.

Responsibilities

• Derive mission and payload requirements from Earth observation customers and translate to software/hardware teams.
• Lead optical payload suppliers' development and test activities.
• Co-develop on-ground and in-orbit test and calibration strategies with AIT/OPS.
• Define data processing strategy for onboard and ground systems.
• Support CONOPS development with Lead Systems Engineer.
• Assist business development for optical payload customers and virtual missions.
• Participate in integration, test campaigns, launch, and in-orbit commissioning.
• Contribute to Loft's Earth observation roadmap.

Skills

Space systems eng

Image quality metrics

Optical payloads

Python

Communication skills

Fast-paced dev

In-orbit calibration

Job description

Wanna join the adventure?Are you passionate about optical payloads, image quality, and turning pixels into products customers can actually use? If so, this is the perfect role for you!

Are you passionate about optical payloads, image quality, and turning pixels into products customers can actually use? If so, this is the perfect role for you! Loft flies multiple satellites per year and is building the next generation of Earth observation capability - from payload design through calibration, processing, and delivery - across a growing fleet of spacecraft. We're looking for a Senior Earth Observation Engineer to serve as the technical authority for optical payloads, image quality, and Earth observation mission performance across Loft. This role requires expertise in imagery calibration, optical payloads, and image processing pipelines. You'll work closely with mission teams, customers, and payload suppliers to define performance requirements, drive payload development and test, support in-orbit calibration and commissioning, and ensure Loft can reliably process and deliver imagery to customers. You'll help build the data processing and image-quality foundation that turns raw payload data into a sellable product, enabling Loft to simulate, calibrate, and deliver imagery across diverse customer missions and to leverage the AI boom through vision-based Earth observation.

About this role:

• Work with Earth observation customers to derive mission and payload requirements, along with verification techniques, and flow these down to software and hardware teams, including suppliers
• Follow and drive optical payload suppliers' development and test activities
• Develop, with the AIT and OPS teams, the on-ground and in-orbit test and calibration strategy
• Develop the on-board and on-ground data processing strategy
• Support the Lead Systems Engineer in mission CONOPS development
• Support business development activities for optical payload customers and Earth observation virtual missions
• Support test procedures and participate in integration, test campaigns, launch, and in-orbit commissioning
• Contribute to and own the development of the company's Earth observation roadmap

Must Haves:

• You have 5 or more years of demonstrated experience as a space systems engineer on earth observation missions
• You are very familiar with image quality metrics and imagery calibration aspects (geometric, radiometric, spectral, etc.)
• You have good experience in optical payloads
• You have coded in Python for at least one year
• You have strong communication and organizational skills
• You challenge norms in aerospace engineering and testing activities, and/or have experience in a fast-paced development environment
• You handle pressure positively and are always ready to put in the hands-on work

Nice to Haves:

• Good knowledge of deep learning and artificial neural networks
• Experience in optics and detector technologies
• Experience in optical ground support equipment
• Knowledge of ADCS and navigation/flight dynamics aspects
• International experience

Some of Our Awesome Benefits:

• 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance option for employees and dependents
• Flexible Spending (FSA) and Health Savings (HSA) Accounts offered with an employer contribution to the HSA
• 100% employer paid Life, AD&D, Short-Term, and Long-Term Disability insurance
• Flexible Time Off policy for vacation and sick leave, and 12 paid holidays
• 401(k) plan and equity options
• Daily catered lunches and snacks in office
• International exposure to our team in France
• Fully paid parental leave; 14 weeks for birthing parent and 10 weeks for non-birthing parent
• Carrot Fertility provides comprehensive, inclusive fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits with financial support
• Off-sites and many social events and celebrations
• Relocation assistance when applicable
• Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other underrepresented people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications. At Loft, we value respectful debate and people who aren’t afraid to challenge assumptions. We strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don’t check all the boxes

Who We Are

Loft: Space Made Simple.

Founded in 2017, Loft provides governments, companies, and research institutions with a fast, reliable, and simple way to deploy missions in orbit.

We integrate, launch, and operate spacecraft, offering end-to-end missions as a service across Earth observation, IoT connectivity, on-orbit AI, national security missions, and more. Leveraging our existing space infrastructure and an extensive inventory of satellite buses, Loft is reducing years-long integration and launch timelines to months. With more than 30 missions flown, Loft’s flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives.

With a growing fleet on track to reach 30 satellites by 2027, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France to meet accelerating demand for space infrastructure.

As an international company your resume will be reviewed by people across our offices so please attach a copy in English.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.