Staff Software Engineer - Backend

Northwood Space; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Northwood Space is seeking a backend focused Staff Engineer to lead the development of a cloud-based platform that manages global antenna scheduling, customer booking, and service provisioning. You will design scalable systems for resource allocation, billing, and customer-facing APIs, enabling seamless access to our space communication network.

The role requires 7+ years of software development and 3+ years building cloud services, with expertise in distributed scheduling and modern cloud

Qualifications

• 7+ years of professional software development experience.
• 3+ years building and scaling cloud-based services and APIs in production environments.
• Experience with distributed scheduling systems, resource allocation, or booking platforms.
• Proficiency in modern cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud).

Responsibilities

• Design and develop Northwood's cloud-based scheduling and orchestration system for global antenna network access
• Build and maintain customer-facing APIs and interfaces for everything from scheduling to real time communications and data routing
• Design and implement Northwood's control and data planes, ensuring seamless integration across on-premises and cloud environments
• Develop billing and metering systems that accurately track resource usage and generate invoices
• Create orchestration systems to coordinate antenna operations across our global network
• Collaborate with Customers, network operations, and the larger software team to build a truly resilient global network
• Work with customers on defining secure and scalable interfaces for Telemetry, Tracking, and Control (TT&C) and payload data transfer, putting simplicity and extensibility first

Skills

Distributed systems design

Cloud architecture

API design

Team leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related field

Tools

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Docker

Terraform

OpenAPI/REST

Job description

About Northwood Space

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 are energized by building at a high-velocity company and seeing your work deployed in locations around the globe with real impact, we want you at Northwood.

Role

Northwood Space is looking for a backend focused Staff Engineer to join our Software team. In this role, you will lead the development of our cloud-based platform that manages global antenna scheduling, customer booking, and service provisioning. You will design and implement scalable systems for resource allocation, billing, and customer-facing APIs that enable seamless access to our space communication network. Your expertise in cloud architecture and distributed systems will be essential in creating reliable, performant services that handle complex scheduling constraints while delivering a simple customer experience.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop Northwood's cloud-based scheduling and orchestration system for global antenna network access
• Build and maintain customer-facing APIs and interfaces for everything from scheduling to real time communications and data routing
• Design and implement Northwood's control and data planes, ensuring seamless integration across on-premises and cloud environments
• Develop billing and metering systems that accurately track resource usage and generate invoices
• Create orchestration systems to coordinate antenna operations across our global network
• Collaborate with Customers, network operations, and the larger software team to build a truly resilient global network
• Work with customers on defining secure and scalable interfaces for Telemetry, Tracking, and Control (TT&C) and payload data transfer, putting simplicity and extensibility first

Basic Qualifications

• 7+ years of professional software development experience
• 3+ years building and scaling cloud-based services and APIs in production environments
• Experience with distributed scheduling systems, resource allocation, or booking platforms
• Proficiency in modern cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with one or more of the following languages:
  • Rust, Golang, etc…
  • Open to other languages suitable for cloud services and distributed systems
• Experience building global-scale customer-facing platforms with high reliability requirements
• Knowledge of API design, authentication, and access control best practices
• Experience with event-driven architectures and message queues
• Familiarity with billing systems, usage tracking, or subscription management
• Understanding of simulation and modeling (Satellite propogation, etc…)
• Experience with Kubernetes, containerization, and CI/CD pipelines
• Knowledge of satellite communications or relevant domain experience (beneficial but not required)

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.