Senior Spacecraft Mission Software Engineer (Ground)

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

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Long-term incentives

Flexible PTO

Medical, Dental, Vision insurance

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Varda Space Industries, Inc. in El Segundo, CA is seeking a Senior Spacecraft Mission Software Engineer to own the ground segment software and the platform it runs on for spacecraft operations.

You will work hands-on with flight software, avionics, RF/ground systems, and mission ops, delivering reliable telemetry, commanding, and simulation tools across lab, test range, and on-orbit-like environments. The role requires 5+ years in safety-critical software, Python expertise, and experience with

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in STEM or equivalent in safety-critical software.
• 5+ years in spacecraft or safety-critical software.
• Proficient in Python and strong language concepts.
• Strong systems fundamentals: concurrency, networking, performance, reliability.
• Experience building real-time data acquisition, low-latency messaging.
• Hands-on CI/CD, dependency/build systems, and Infrastructure as Code.
• End-to-end observability: logging, metrics, tracing.
• Docker and Kubernetes; release management for controlled networks.

Responsibilities

• Own Ground Segment Services: telemetry ingestion, scaling, distribution, and commanding.
• Mission Control Interfaces: operator UIs and dashboards for ops teams.
• Simulation and Test Automation: flight-software simulations, device emulators, automated tests.
• Build the Mission Platform: CI/CD, artifact mgmt, infra-as-code, observability tooling.
• Deployments Across Environments: robust rollout/rollback for lab, test stands, and mission networks.

Job description

Varda Space Industries, Inc. in El Segundo, CA is seeking a Senior Spacecraft Mission Software Engineer to own the ground segment software and the platform it runs on for spacecraft operations.

You will work hands-on with flight software, avionics, RF/ground systems, and mission ops, delivering reliable telemetry, commanding, and simulation tools across lab, test range, and on-orbit-like environments. The role requires 5+ years in safety-critical software, Python expertise, and experience with