Senior Ground Systems Software Engineer - Spacecraft Ops

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

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Job summary

Varda seeks a Mission Software Engineer to own ground segment services, telemetry ingestion, and mission control interfaces. You will help design, implement, and operate real-time data systems across labs and mission environments.

Join a team blending avionics, software, and mission operations, applying CI/CD, test automation, and scalable software practices. This on-site role is based in El Segundo, CA, with equity options and collaboration with SpaceX veterans.

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.
• 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 and monitoring.
• 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.
• Mission Control Interfaces: Deliver operator‑grade UIs and dashboards that optimize ops time.
• Simulation and Test Automation: Build tools to run flight‑software simulations and device emulators with automated tests.
• Build the Mission Platform: Design and productionize software with CI/CD, IaC, and self‑service tooling.
• Deployments Across Environments: Create robust deployment patterns for lab benches and mission networks.

Skills

Python

Real-time systems

Networking

CI/CD

Docker/Kubernetes

Observability

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

CI/CD tooling

Infrastructure as Code

Job description

Varda seeks a Mission Software Engineer to own ground segment services, telemetry ingestion, and mission control interfaces. You will help design, implement, and operate real-time data systems across labs and mission environments.

Join a team blending avionics, software, and mission operations, applying CI/CD, test automation, and scalable software practices. This on-site role is based in El Segundo, CA, with equity options and collaboration with SpaceX veterans.