Senior Ground Software Architect – Space Systems

Rocket Lab; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 198,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

401(k) with company match

Paid time off

Parental leave

Stock purchase program

Job summary

Rocket Lab, headquartered in Long Beach, CA, is seeking a Senior Ground Software Engineer I to define and evolve the end-to-end architecture of ground systems for Space Systems missions. You will collaborate with flight software, mission operations, and systems engineers to deliver scalable ground designs for diverse mission profiles. Base Pay Range for CA: $130,000 USD - $198,000 USD.

Base salary is complemented by a comprehensive benefits package and company equity opportunities. U.S.

Qualifications

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

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 experience

Web-based architectures

Systems thinking

US Citizenship

Active Secret clearance

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

Python

Golang

Rust

TypeScript

Angular

InfluxDB

PostgreSQL

Playwright

FastAPI

Microservices

Kubernetes

Git CI/CD

OAuth

CCSDS standards

Job description

Rocket Lab, headquartered in Long Beach, CA, is seeking a Senior Ground Software Engineer I to define and evolve the end-to-end architecture of ground systems for Space Systems missions. You will collaborate with flight software, mission operations, and systems engineers to deliver scalable ground designs for diverse mission profiles. Base Pay Range for CA: $130,000 USD - $198,000 USD.

Base salary is complemented by a comprehensive benefits package and company equity opportunities. U.S.