Senior Ground Software Engineer – Space Systems

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

Benefits offered by this job

Top-tier medical benefits

Company equity

Paid vacation and holidays

HSA plan option

Dental and vision coverage

401(k) with company match

Onsite gym

Discounted employee stock purchase

EV charging stations

Free meals and snacks

Job summary

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA seeks a Senior Ground Software Engineer I to drive end-to-end architecture for spacecraft ground software. Build scalable ground systems, collaborate across mission ops and flight software, and guide decisions for reliability and mission success.

Based at our Long Beach HQ, you’ll shape web-based ground platforms, monitor performance, and influence leadership on technology strategy. Base pay range in California reflects senior responsibilities.

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-level thinking balancing performance, security, and maintainability.
• U.S. citizenship is required.
• 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 detect and mitigate issues.
• Provide technical direction and architectural guidance for mission resilience and long-term maintainability.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to leadership on ground software strategy and emerging technologies.

Skills

Python

Golang

Rust

Typescript

Angular

PostgreSQL

InfluxDB

Playwright

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Git workflows

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or technical discipline

Tools

FastAPI

Job description

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA seeks a Senior Ground Software Engineer I to drive end-to-end architecture for spacecraft ground software. Build scalable ground systems, collaborate across mission ops and flight software, and guide decisions for reliability and mission success.

Based at our Long Beach HQ, you’ll shape web-based ground platforms, monitor performance, and influence leadership on technology strategy. Base pay range in California reflects senior responsibilities.