Senior Ground Systems Software Engineer — Spacecraft Ops

Varda Space Industries, Inc.; El Segundo (CA); Hybrid; USD 169,000 - 216,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Relocation support

Equity plan

Job summary

Varda Space Industries, Inc. is seeking a Senior Spacecraft Software Engineer for Ground Systems to lead ground-segment software development.

You will work on telemetry, commanding, data distribution, and mission control interfaces, collaborating across avionics, RF/ground systems, and operations teams. The role emphasizes real-time data acquisition, simulation, and toolchains, with a focus on scalable, reliable software and self-service deployment across lab, test, and mission networks.

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.
• Mission Control Interfaces: Deliver operator-grade UIs and dashboards that optimize ops time and reduce cognitive load.
• Simulation and Test Automation: Build tools to run flight-software simulations, device emulators, and scenario-based automated tests.
• Build the Mission Platform: Design, implement, and productionize software for mission and ground software teams.
• Deployments Across Environments: Create robust deployment patterns for lab benches, test stands, and mission networks.

Skills

Python programming

Real-time software

Safety-critical software

Concurrency & networking

CI/CD pipelines

Observability

Flight software familiarity

GNC/avionics knowledge

Education

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, math, physics, or engineering

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD tooling

Infrastructure as code

Release management

Job description

Varda Space Industries, Inc. is seeking a Senior Spacecraft Software Engineer for Ground Systems to lead ground-segment software development.

You will work on telemetry, commanding, data distribution, and mission control interfaces, collaborating across avionics, RF/ground systems, and operations teams. The role emphasizes real-time data acquisition, simulation, and toolchains, with a focus on scalable, reliable software and self-service deployment across lab, test, and mission networks.