Senior Product Systems Engineer

Loft Orbital; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

100% company-paid medical, dental, and

Job summary

Loft Orbital is seeking a Senior Product Systems Engineer to own the architecture of the overall offering across ground, space, software, and hardware. You will define how Loft's platform is structured, allocate capabilities across segments, and model interactions with customers and third-party software.

This role emphasizes shaping the system, defining interfaces, and ensuring coherence, reusability, and product relevance.

Qualifications

• Strong systems engineering background in complex technical products spanning software and hardware.

Responsibilities

• Help define the general architecture of Loft’s offering across ground and space

Skills

Systems engineering

Architecture definition

Requirements structuring

Cross-functional coordination

Documentation & communication

Engineering judgment

Decision frameworks

Tools

APIs

Job description

Wanna join the adventure?
Loft Orbital builds a space infrastructure providing a fast & simple path to orbit. Using different flight proven buses, we design, integrate and operate spacecraft to fly physical or virtual customer payloads. We handle entire missions end to end, significantly reducing the lead-time and risk of a traditional space mission.

Wanna join the adventure?
Loft Orbital builds a space infrastructure providing a fast & simple path to orbit. Using different flight proven buses, we design, integrate and operate spacecraft to fly physical or virtual customer payloads. We handle entire missions end to end, significantly reducing the lead-time and risk of a traditional space mission.
As a Senior Product Systems Engineer at Loft, you will own the architecture of our overall offering — the layer that sits above any single implementation team and brings coherence across ground, space, software, and hardware. You will define how Loft's platform is structured, how capabilities are allocated across segments, and how customers, third-party software, and Loft's own stack interact.
This is not a role about executing within a defined system. It is about shaping the system itself— making cross-cutting architecture decisions, defining interfaces and requirements at the offering level, and ensuring the ground processing chain and customer-facing tooling evolve in a way that is coherent, reusable, and product-relevant. You will work closely with engineering, product, and operations teams across sites, and your work will directly influence how Loft's offering is built, exposed, and scaled.

About this role

• Help define the general architecture of Loft’s offering across ground and space
• Support capability allocation across hardware, software, ground, flight, Loft-owned components, and external components
• Ensure the ground processing chain is defined and evolved as a coherent part of the offering
• Help shape ground software tools and interfaces as the main entry point for customers
• Clarify the interaction model between OBSW, ground software, customer software, third-party software, and Loft’s stack
• Help define, organize, and maintain requirements, interfaces, and architectural boundaries for offering-level topics
• Coordinate architecture discussions and drive alignment between product intent, system architecture, and implementation realities across teams
• Contribute to CONOPS, ICDs, architecture notes, trade studies, and related technical documentation
• Help ensure solutions are reusable, scalable, and understandable rather than tailored only to one mission
• Support architecture reviews and technical decision-making on cross-cutting topics

Must Haves

• Strong systems engineering background in complex technical products spanning software and hardware
• Experience working at the boundary between architecture definition, requirements structuring, and engineering implementation
• Ability to structure complex systems into clear capabilities, interfaces, requirements, and responsibilities
• Strong understanding of software-heavy systems, including distributed components, APIs, processing chains, and integration patterns
• Ability to coordinate cross-functional technical work across several teams without relying on direct authority
• Strong communication and documentation skills, including the ability to turn technical ambiguity into a clear framework for decisions and execution
• Sound engineering judgment on the right level of rigor, abstraction, and specification for a growing organization

Nice to Haves

• Experience with space systems, including ground segment tooling, onboard software, or customer-facing technical platforms
• Experience defining integration models involving customer-owned or third-party software
• Experience with architecture trade studies, capability allocation, and system-level interface management
• Familiarity with CONOPS, ICDs, and other architecture or interface documentation methods
• Experience with onboard data processing and cloud-based ground software
• Experience in international and cross-site engineering collaboration

Some of Our Awesome Benefits

• 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance option for employees and dependents
• Flexible Spending (FSA) and Health Savings (HSA) Accounts offered with an employer contribution to the HSA
• 100% employer paid Life, AD&D, Short-Term, and Long-Term Disability insurance
• Flexible Time Off policy for vacation and sick leave, and 12 paid holidays
• 401(k) plan and equity options
• Daily catered lunches and snacks in office
• International exposure to our team in France
• Fully paid parental leave; 14 weeks for birthing parent and 10 weeks for non-birthing parent
• Carrot Fertility provides comprehensive, inclusive fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits with financial support
• Off-sites and many social events and celebrations
• Relocation assistance when applicable
• Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other underrepresented people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications. At Loft, we value respectful debate and people who aren’t afraid to challenge assumptions.

Who We Are

Loft: Space Made Simple.

Founded in 2017, Loft provides governments, companies, and research institutions with a fast, reliable, and simple way to deploy missions in orbit.

We integrate, launch, and operate spacecraft, offering end-to-end missions as a service across Earth observation, IoT connectivity, on-orbit AI, national security missions, and more. Leveraging our existing space infrastructure and an extensive inventory of satellite buses, Loft is reducing years-long integration and launch timelines to months. With more than 30 missions flown, Loft’s flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives.

With a growing fleet on track to reach 30 satellites by 2027, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France to meet accelerating demand for space infrastructure.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

State law requires us to tell you the base compensation range for this role, which is $180,000- $230,000 per year in California. This is determined by your education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities. The salary range for this role is intentionally wide as we evaluate individuals based on their unique experience and abilities to fit our needs. Most importantly, we are excited to meet you, and see if you are a great fit for our team. What we can’t quantify for you are the exciting challenges, supportive team, and amazing culture we enjoy.