Software, Platform (Early Career)

Northwood Space•Los Angeles, CA

1d•$123,000 - $140,000

About The Position

Northwood is hiring an early-career Software Engineer for its Platform team. The team builds the software platform that takes Northwood products from prototype to operation, including tools and systems for building, testing, releasing, monitoring, and maintaining software and hardware across a global network of antenna ground stations and cloud services. The platform supports every site, service, and customer as the network grows. The role offers production work from the first weeks, close mentorship, and increasing ownership as the engineer develops. Work may span delivery and release pipelines; simulation and testing; remote ground station operations; observability; internal platform services and tools; and infrastructure and security. The company does not expect one person to own every area. Applicants must meet U.S. Government space technology export-control eligibility requirements: be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Northwood is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Reasonable accommodations are available during the application and interview process.

Requirements

0 to 2 years of professional software experience; internships, research, open-source work, and projects outside the classroom count.
Bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, math, or a related field; the degree requirement is described as soft, and applicants without a degree may explain an alternative path.
Experience writing real software beyond required coursework in at least one general-purpose language, such as Python, Go, Rust, TypeScript, or C++.
Experience building and shipping something other people used or relied on.
Ability to solve a difficult technical problem largely independently, such as debugging a non-obvious failure or designing a system from scratch.

Nice To Haves

Proficiency in one or more programming languages, such as Python, Go, Rust, or TypeScript, and informed judgment about which language suits a given task.
Experience building a backend API and a frontend that uses it, such as a React app using a REST API.
Exposure to CI pipelines such as GitHub Actions or GitLab CI, containers such as Docker, a cloud platform such as AWS, or infrastructure as code such as Terraform or CloudFormation.
Day-to-day comfort with Linux and the command line, or coursework and projects involving operating systems, networking, or distributed systems.
Experience building a tool, script, or library used by other developers.
Projects involving hardware, embedded systems, RF, robotics, or space, such as a CubeSat, rocketry, or robotics team.
A track record of going beyond what was asked through side projects, competitions, research, or self-directed work.
Comfort using AI coding tools such as Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor.

Responsibilities

Build CI and release pipelines that move code from commit to production in the cloud and at ground stations worldwide.
Make software releases safe and continuous through staged rollouts and fast rollback.
Build simulated ground stations and lab test benches that use real hardware to test releases under realistic conditions.
Build tools to replay recorded data through the system to identify problems early.
Automate bringing new remote sites online, configuring them, and updating them.
Write software for servers located alongside antennas and keep the global fleet healthy.
Build monitoring, logging, and alerting to show the health of services and sites.
Turn telemetry into actionable signals for engineers and operators before problems affect customers.
Build backend services and web interfaces used by engineers and operators to create, ship, and run software.
Work directly with users of the platform and incorporate their feedback into improvements.
Define cloud and site infrastructure as code.
Build identity, secrets management, and least-privilege access into the platform by default.