Senior Software Engineer (Remote Sensing)
About The Position
Umbra is seeking a Senior Ground Software Engineer to join their Remote Sensing software organization. This role will contribute to software systems across mission planning, scheduling, command, control, and communications domains, supporting autonomous satellite operations. The engineer will partner with product owners and multidisciplinary teams to develop and operate services for spacecraft operations at scale. Key responsibilities include taking ownership of backend services, distributing operational responsibility, improving system resiliency, and accelerating delivery across mission-critical product areas. This position is based on-site in Santa Barbara/Goleta, CA, Arlington, VA, or Reston, VA.
Requirements
- Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field.
- 5-8+ years of professional experience developing highly available backend services, preferably using Python.
- 3+ years of experience designing, developing, and testing commercial RESTful APIs.
- Experience developing software for aerospace ground systems, satellite operations, mission operations, command and control systems, or similarly complex operational environments.
- Demonstrated understanding of software architecture, event-driven microservices, interface design, and automated testing practices.
- 2+ years of professional experience developing automated build and test pipelines within a CI/CD environment.
- Experience building database-backed applications and working with relational databases, preferably PostgreSQL.
- Experience developing and deploying Kubernetes/Docker containerized services.
- Experience with AWS or other cloud computing platforms.
- Solid understanding of application security, access control, authentication, and identity management.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively across engineering disciplines.
Nice To Haves
- Experience building software to automate space operations.
- Experience designing and implementing scheduling systems, optimization algorithms, or automated planning systems.
- Strong understanding of infrastructure monitoring, observability, and operational best practices.
- Experience designing and documenting APIs using Swagger/OpenAPI.
- Track record of improving team effectiveness through mentorship, documentation, or knowledge sharing.
Responsibilities
- Design, develop, and maintain reliable, scalable, and secure software systems that support satellite mission planning, scheduling, command, control, and communications.
- Take shared ownership of critical production services, reducing single-threaded dependencies and improving operational resilience.
- Contribute to architectural decisions and influence system design with a focus on reliability, scalability, maintainability, and security.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including operations, platform engineering, and flight software, to deliver end-to-end solutions.
- Participate in on-call rotations and ensure system uptime, performance, and operational excellence.
- Develop and maintain APIs, backend services, and data workflows that support autonomous satellite operations.
- Continuously improve observability, testing, deployment, and operational processes.
Benefits
- Flexible Time Off, Sick, Family & Medical Leave
- Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, LTD, STD (employer funded)
- Vol Life, Critical Illness, Accidental, Hospital Indemnity, Pet Insurance (employee funded)
- 401k with 3% non-elective company contribution
- Stock Options
- Free parking
- Free lunch in office daily
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
