Senior Ground Software Architect, Space Systems

Rocket Lab Corporation; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 151,000 - 227,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee Stock Purchase Program

Company health/dental/vision plans

Paid time off and holidays

401(k) with company match

EV charging subsidies

Job summary

Rocket Lab Corporation in Long Beach, CA is seeking a Senior Ground Software Engineer II to lead architecture for spacecraft ground software and guide end-to-end system design for mission success. You will collaborate with flight software, mission operations, and systems engineering to deliver scalable, reliable ground solutions across diverse missions.

The role emphasizes architecture, reliability, and leadership, with a strong focus on security, performance, and maintainability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or other technical discipline.
• 8+ 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

Strong systems-level thinking

Architecting web-based software at any

Technical leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or other technical discipline

Tools

Python

Golang

Rust

Typescript

Angular

InfluxDB

PostgreSQL

Playwright

Git-based workflows

CI/CD pipelines

Kubernetes

OAuth

Job description

Rocket Lab Corporation in Long Beach, CA is seeking a Senior Ground Software Engineer II to lead architecture for spacecraft ground software and guide end-to-end system design for mission success. You will collaborate with flight software, mission operations, and systems engineering to deliver scalable, reliable ground solutions across diverse missions.

The role emphasizes architecture, reliability, and leadership, with a strong focus on security, performance, and maintainability.