Senior Software Engineer - Space Infrastructure

Overview

As a Space Infrastructure Software Engineer, you are responsible for scaling our ability to operate a heterogeneous fleet of satellites—spanning dedicated, rideshare, and constellation missions. You will work at the intersection of automated satellite operations, ground and flight software, and solving on-orbit problems. The team is responsible for ensuring the reliable, efficient, and standardized operation of Loft’s space infrastructure. Within the operational fleet of Loft satellites, the team is responsible for the stability of the satellite bus, the Hub, and Loft-owned payloads as a platform to execute customer missions. Loft’s business and its customer’s businesses are built on the reliability of its space infrastructure. This team’s work is foundational for that model, and gives you a wide latitude to work on different systems, ranging from code that interacts with and uses Cockpit, our mission control system, to code that executes onboard our satellites. It will also give you the opportunity to become a Flight Director, responsible for the health and safety of our fleet.

About the Role

• Develop and maintain the software systems that autonomously operate our satellites, improving the reliability and scalability of our space infrastructure.
• Build tools, systems, and software libraries to enable other teams to integrate and operate effectively on Loft’s satellite platform.
• Scale our satellite operations software to support an increasingly heterogeneous and growing fleet.
• Partner with software product teams to drive continuous improvements based on operational and integration feedback.
• Contribute to and maintain SatDevOps Academy, our internal training program for company-wide satellite operations readiness.
• Serve as a rotating Flight Director, overseeing incident response and ensuring the health and safety of the fleet.

Must Haves

• 4+ years of professional software engineering experience, with solid skills in automation.
• Ability to work across the full software and hardware stack—including ground-based automation, space-based automation, and the interfaces that connect them.
• Proficiency in Python, container technologies (Docker, Kubernetes), CI/CD pipelines, unit/integration testing, Linux, and Git.
• Willingness and enthusiasm to be trained as a satellite controller and Flight Director (including participation in the on-call rotation).
• Pragmatic mindset: able to balance long-term reliability with short- and medium-term solutions.
• Accountability and autonomy; comfortable taking ownership and delivering results.
• Openness to learning, working outside your comfort zone, and tackling unfamiliar challenges.

Nice to Haves

• Familiarity or experience with Argo, Grafana, Loki, Lua, test engineering, or reliability engineering.
• Hands-on experience as a satellite operator.

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

Salary: $150,000 - $215,000 a year

State law requires us to tell you the base compensation range for this role, which is $150,000- $215,000 per year. 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.

Who We Are

Loft: Space Made Simple.

Founded in 2017, Loft provides governments, companies, and research institutions with a fast, reliable, and flexible 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, in-orbit demonstrations, 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 25 missions flown, Loft’s flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives.

At Loft, you’ll be given the autonomy and ownership to solve significant challenges, but with a close-knit and supportive team at your back. We believe that diversity and community are the foundation of an open culture. We are committed to hiring the best people regardless of background and make their time at Loft the most fulfilling period of their career.

We value kind, supportive and team-oriented collaborators. It is also crucial for us that you are a problem solver and a great communicator. As our team is international, you will need strong English skills to better collaborate, easily communicate complex ideas and convey important messages.

With 4 satellites on-orbit and a wave of exciting missions launching soon, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France.

As an international company your resume will be reviewed by people across our offices so please attach a copy in English.