Software Engineering Manager

Role Description

The Ground & Control Services (GCS) team is seeking a thoughtful and technically strong Engineering Manager to lead the group responsible for building the autonomous systems that control and monitor BlackSky’s satellite constellation. This team owns high‑speed tasking, ground and space telemetry, health monitoring, and low‑latency communication with ground stations worldwide.

As the GCS Manager, you will guide the engineers who design, build, and operate software that bridges hardware‑level interfaces with cloud‑deployed microservices—software that keeps our satellites healthy, safe, and responsive 24/7.

In this role, you’ll provide technical direction, build healthy engineering processes, and cultivate a culture of curiosity, safety, and ownership. You will partner with mission operations, spacecraft engineering, product teams, and program leadership to ensure the team consistently meets both commercial production goals and program‑driven requirements.

• Lead, mentor, and grow the Ground & Control Services engineering team responsible for autonomous satellite operations, real‑time tasking, and ground‑to‑space communications.
• Work with leadership to drive prioritization and planning across GCS projects with dynamically changing commercial and program objectives.
• Partner with operations, communication engineering, flight software, mission planning, product, and program leadership to clarify requirements and align priorities.
• Provide technical direction and architectural guidance for systems interfacing with ground stations, satellite communication protocols, and mission‑critical operational workflows.
• Establish and continuously improve engineering processes including design reviews, code reviews, testing practices, system safety considerations, and operational readiness.
• Foster a healthy on-call culture and ensure effective support of live operational systems.
• Drive roadmap planning, resource allocation, and execution across multiple projects.
• Hire, onboard, coach, and evaluate engineers, emphasizing skill development, collaboration, and accountability.
• Perform other leadership tasks as required to ensure the success of the team and mission.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• A minimum of eight (8) years of professional experience in software engineering, including experience building or operating complex distributed, autonomous, or mission‑critical systems.
• At least two (2) years of experience leading engineering teams as a people manager or technical lead with formal leadership responsibilities.
• Strong technical background in one or more programming languages (e.g., Go, Python, C++).
• Experience developing and deploying microservices in cloud environments (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure) and on-premises Kubernetes‑based systems.
• Solid understanding of CI/CD pipelines, automated testing strategies, version control, and operational best practices.
• Demonstrated ability to manage priorities, coordinate across teams, and deliver results in fast-paced environments.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and conflict‑resolution skills, especially in cross‑functional settings.
• Some programs this role supports may require the candidate to be a U.S. citizen.

Requirements

• Master’s degree (or higher) in a relevant technical field (preferred).
• Ten or more years of professional engineering experience, including leadership of teams responsible for high-availability or mission-critical software (preferred).
• Experience managing teams working with infrastructure‑as‑code tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible) (preferred).
• Knowledge of system safety, fault tolerance, redundancy, and recovery strategies in autonomous or operationally sensitive environments (preferred).
• Background in satellite operations, ground stations, or aerospace domains (e.g., X‑Band, UHF, telemetry) (preferred).
• Prior experience aligning engineering execution with both commercial production SLAs and program‑specific requirements (preferred).

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, disability, group term life and AD&D, voluntary life and AD&D insurance.
• BlackSky pays 100% of employee-only premiums for medical, dental and vision and contributes $100/month for out-of-pocket expenses!
• 15 days of PTO, 11 Company holidays, four Floating Holidays, one day of paid volunteerism leave per year, parental leave and more.
• 401(k) pre-tax and Roth deferral options with employer match.
• Flexible Spending Accounts.
• Employee Stock Purchase Program.
• Employee Assistance and Travel Assistance Programs.
• Employer matching donations.
• Professional development.
• Mac or PC? Your choice!
• Awesome swag.