Senior Ground Software Architect — Space Systems

Rocket Lab; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Premium medical benefits

401(k) with company match

100% company-sponsored medical HSA

Job summary

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA is seeking a Senior Ground Software Engineer II to define end-to-end ground software architecture for spacecraft operations, collaborating with flight software, mission operations, and systems engineers to build scalable, reliable ground systems.

You will drive architectural decisions, deploy and optimize the Ground Data System, and mentor teams while focusing on performance, security, and maintainability across missions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or technical discipline.
• 8+ years of professional software development experience.
• Proven track record architecting web-based software systems at scale.
• Ability to balance performance, security, and maintainability in system design.

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

Ground software

Software architecture

Systems thinking

Security awareness

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or technical field

Tools

Python

Golang

Rust

Typescript

Angular

Job description

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA is seeking a Senior Ground Software Engineer II to define end-to-end ground software architecture for spacecraft operations, collaborating with flight software, mission operations, and systems engineers to build scalable, reliable ground systems.

You will drive architectural decisions, deploy and optimize the Ground Data System, and mentor teams while focusing on performance, security, and maintainability across missions.