Software Engineer – General (new grad / early career)

Northwood Space; New Mexico; On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Health care

Unlimited vacation

Retirement savings

Professional development

Job summary

Northwood Space, located in Torrance, California, is seeking a Software Engineer to design, implement, and optimize functionalities within their ground station network infrastructure. The successful candidate will work on collaborative projects that emphasize low latency and high throughput in data distribution. Required qualifications include over 6 years of software development experience, proficiency in programming languages like Python and C/C++, and some background in architecting scalable systems. Benefits include equity, health care, unlimited vacation, and retirement savings.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of non-internship professional software development experience.
• 3+ years of experience in architecting and scaling systems.
• Experience with at least one programming language: Python, C/C++, Rust etc.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with teams to design and implement control and data planes.
• Develop, test, deploy applications essential to ground service.
• Create monitoring solutions for uptime of systems.

Skills

Software development

System architecture

Network programming

Data processing pipelines

Cloud infrastructure

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Docker

Terraform

AWS

Python

C/C++

Rust

Job description

About Northwood

Northwood is on a mission to transform connectivity between earth and space and bring the benefits of space to the masses through innovations in space communications technologies. If you like building quickly and seeing your work deployed in locations around the globe with real impact, we want you at Northwood.

Job Level

The level of this position will be determined based on the qualifications and experience of the successful candidate. We are open to considering candidates of varying experience levels, from mid-career to principal engineers.

Role

Northwood is looking for a Software Engineer to join our team in our El Segundo office. As a Software Engineer at Northwood, you will play a pivotal role in designing, implementing, and optimizing data and control plane functionalities within our global ground station network infrastructure. You will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams as well as customers to develop innovative solutions that enable reliable, efficient, simple, and available systems. Your expertise in reliable, scalable, and easy to use systems will be essential in achieving our goals.

Responsibilities

We are seeking a Software Engineer to support the design and development of Northwoods' control and data planes - spanning on-prem and cloud environments. In this role you will

• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to design and implement Northwood's control and data planes, ensuring seamless integration across on-premises and cloud environments, emphasizing low latency and high throughput data distribution.
• Develop, test, deploy, and maintain applications essential to the ground service, including APIs, services for spacecraft communication, and data processing pipelines capable of managing gigabits of data per second.
• Create a comprehensive monitoring solution to ensure the continuous uptime of Northwood's hardware and software systems.
• Work closely with software, network, and FPGA engineers to design Northwood's hybrid network and software deployments, optimizing performance and scalability.
• Engage with customers to establish interfaces and infrastructure that enable both Telemetry, Tracking, and Control (TT&C) and Payload downlink at scale.

Experience

• 6+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
• 3+ years of industry experience in architecting and scaling systems
• 5+ years of programming with at least one software programming language experience
  • Preferred Programming Languages:
    • Python
    • C/C++
    • Rust
    • Any other language suitable for distributed systems development and high-performance computing.
• Experience in leading design or architecture (design patterns, reliability, and scaling) of new and existing systems

Nice to haves

• Experience with Infrastructure as Code
• Several years of professional experience with continuous integration, and deployment and related technologies (Docker, Terraform, Vault, etc…)
• Several years of experience with cloud infrastructure - AWS, Azure or Google Cloud
• Experience in high speed communications (10GigE+)
• Experience in network programming and understanding of the IP protocols
• Full-stack software development experience, including:
  • Backend – Python(FastAPI) and/or Golang
  • Frontend – Typescript and/or Javascript (Angular or React)
  • Database – InfluxDB, PostgreSQL, or equivalent
• Experience with data visualization libraries and tools.
• Background in satellite communications or ground station operations.
• Familiarity with security/ compliance requirements.
• Experience in embedded development (FreeRTOS, Zephyr, etc…)

Compensation and Benefits

Compensation is determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, and technical capabilities. In addition to base salary, Northwood offers long term incentives such as company stock, stock options, and cash awards, as well as discretionary bonus for performance. Northwood benefits include equity, health care, unlimited vacation, retirement savings and professional development.

Additional Information

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Northwood is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Northwood is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.