Senior Ground Systems Software Engineer – Spacecraft

Varda; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 169,000 - 216,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health & Wellness

Flexible PTO

Stock options

Job summary

Varda, based in El Segundo, CA, is hiring for a safety-critical software role focused on ground segment services, mission control interfaces, and automated testing. The position requires expertise in Python, real-time data handling, and scalable infrastructure.

The role is on-site in El Segundo with a strong emphasis on CI/CD, observability, and secure networks. The job offers a competitive salary range with equity and a comprehensive benefits package, reflecting seniority and impact on space

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, math, physics, engineering or equivalent technical experience in safety critical software.
• 5+ years of experience in the development of spacecraft or similar safety critical software.
• Expertise with development in Python, along with a strong understanding of the language concepts.
• Have strong systems fundamentals: concurrency, networking, performance, reliability.
• Experience building real-time data acquisition, scaling, and distribution services - low-latency messaging, time-series and relational stores.
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD, dependency/build systems, and infrastructure-as-code.
• End-to-end observability experience: logging, metrics, tracing.
• Docker/Kubernetes; release management, phased rollouts, and operational readiness for controlled networks.

Responsibilities

• Own Ground Segment Services: Develop and maintain high-reliability services for telemetry ingestion, scaling, distribution, and commanding. Ensure deterministic behavior for real-time operations and post-flight analysis.
• Mission Control Interfaces: Deliver operator‑grade UIs and dashboards that optimize"ops time" and reduce cognitive load across integration, test, and on‑orbit operations phases.
• Simulation and Test Automation: Build tools to run flight-software simulations, device emulators, and scenario‑based automated tests - enabling fast, safe iteration for avionics, GNC, and operations teams.
• Build the Mission Platform: Design, implement, and productionize software for mission and ground software teams. Standardize CI/CD pipelines, artifact management, service templates, infrastructure‑as‑code, simulation and hardware‑in‑the‑loop frameworks, test harnesses, and observability - all delivered as self‑service tooling.
• Deployments Across Environments: Create robust deployment patterns for lab benches, test stands, and mission networks. Implement safe rollout/rollback strategies and air‑gapped or limited‑connectivity deployment approaches.

Skills

Python

CI/CD

Docker/Kubernetes

Real-time data

Networking

Concurrency

Observability

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science, math, physics, engineering or equivalent

Tools

Ansible

C++

NiceGUI

Job description

Varda, based in El Segundo, CA, is hiring for a safety-critical software role focused on ground segment services, mission control interfaces, and automated testing. The position requires expertise in Python, real-time data handling, and scalable infrastructure.

The role is on-site in El Segundo with a strong emphasis on CI/CD, observability, and secure networks. The job offers a competitive salary range with equity and a comprehensive benefits package, reflecting seniority and impact on space