Senior Ground Software Architect — Space Systems

Rocketlab; Littleton (CO); On-site; USD 115,000 - 155,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Medical, dental and vision insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Paid time off

Job summary

Senior Ground Software Engineer I based at Rocket Lab’s site in Littleton, CO, you will serve as a technical authority for spacecraft ground software across our Space Systems missions. You will help define and evolve the end-to-end architecture of ground systems, ensuring scalability, reliability, and mission success for both internal teams and external customers.

This role offers visibility to leadership and must balance performance, security, and maintainability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or other technical discipline.
• 5+ years of professional software development experience.
• Proven track record architecting web-based software systems at scale.
• Strong systems-thinking with trade-offs across performance, security, and maintainability.
• U.S. citizenship is required due to program requirements.

Responsibilities

• Own major parts of architecture and evolve Rocket Lab’s web-based ground software platforms for spacecraft operations.
• Partner with flight software developers, mission operations personnel, and systems engineers to translate mission needs into scalable ground system designs.
• Deploy, configure, and optimize the Rocket Lab Ground Data System for diverse mission profiles.
• Establish robust monitoring, alerting, and reliability frameworks to proactively detect and mitigate issues.
• Provide technical direction and architectural guidance to ensure mission resilience, system integration, and long‑term maintainability.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to leadership on ground software strategy, risk areas, and emerging technologies.

Skills

5+ years of software development

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or technical discipline

Tools

Python

Golang

Rust

Typescript

Angular

InfluxDB

PostgreSQL

Playwright

Kubernetes

Git

CI/CD

Job description

Senior Ground Software Engineer I based at Rocket Lab’s site in Littleton, CO, you will serve as a technical authority for spacecraft ground software across our Space Systems missions. You will help define and evolve the end-to-end architecture of ground systems, ensuring scalability, reliability, and mission success for both internal teams and external customers.

This role offers visibility to leadership and must balance performance, security, and maintainability.