Ground Software Engineer

Employer description

At Reflect, you will be expected to move fast, have a lot of ownership and, most importantly, be able to effect change. If this excites you, we are interested in hearing about your best work and accomplishments across any domain and from any points in your life.

About the Role

As a Satellite Ground Software Engineer, your core responsibilities will be to build and maintain the software our operations team will use to fly the spacecraft. This role blends hands-on software development with platform and network engineering.

You’ll develop the services that move telemetry and commands between our satellites and mission control center, build the tools and automation that make operations safe and efficient, and integrate GSaaS providers into a reliable end-to-end system. You will deploy and operate what you build, troubleshooting issues that span software, networks, and hardware.

Responsibilities

Design, develop, and maintain ground software for satellite operations, including telemetry ingestion, processing, and display, and command generation and uplink workflows

Build operator-facing tools and dashboards to support the operations team

Design and build automation for pass execution, routine commanding, and alerting to reduce manual operator workload

Deploy and operate ground software on AWS and Kubernetes, maintaining CI/CD pipelines, configuration management, and infrastructure as code

Support integration of ground station hardware and network interfaces, including radios, routers, and antenna controllers

Configure and test Ground Station-as-a-Service (GSaaS) connections and validate end-to-end data paths between satellites, ground stations, and cloud infrastructure in coordination with mission operations and RF engineers

Monitor system and network health using in-house and third-party observability tools

Validate ground software against simulators and test environments prior to operational use

Troubleshoot and resolve issues spanning software, networks, ground stations, and mission systems

Provide 24/7 on-call support for mission-critical ground systems

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent experience

3+ years of experience developing ground systems software (services, APIs, and applications)

Experience deploying and operating software on AWS, including container orchestration with Kubernetes and CI/CD systems

Strong understanding of networking protocols, routing, VPNs, and secure connectivity

Knowledge of satellite ground systems, including ground station networking, antenna interfaces, and RF subsystems

Experience working with Ground Station-as-a-Service (GSaaS) providers

Experience building services around databases and real-time data (relational or time-series)

Familiarity with Linux environments and command-line tools

Strong programming and scripting skills (Python, C++ preferred)

Experience with DevOps tools and practices (Git, Docker, CI/CD)

Experience building software for multi-satellite constellation operations is a plus

Even if you don’t meet 100% of the above qualifications, we are likely still interested in hearing from you. Hiring exceptional individuals is our #1 priority, and we believe that exceptional people often have highly unusual backgrounds.

We are also interested in carving out unique roles for unconventional people that we are excited about working with.

BenefitsReflect Orbital’s success will hinge on our team, which is why our compensation and benefits plan is designed to reward our employees and support their families as generously as we’re able.

Broad choice of medical/dental/vision coverage, Reflect covers 100% of each base-policy

Access to HSA, FSA, and 401K

Unlimited paid time off

Healthy lunches provided daily

Equal OpportunityReflect Orbital is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Reflect Orbital 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.

More about Reflect Orbital:

Learn more about our team here.