Ground and Controls Services, Software Engineering Manager

BlackSky•Seattle, WA

35d•$165,000 - $205,000•Hybrid

About The Position

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. This includes balancing long‑term reliability with rapid iteration, supporting operational readiness for live constellation needs, and delivering capabilities aligned with customer commitments and program milestones. You’ll help your team reason about complex autonomous systems where reliability matters as much as performance, and you’ll play a key part in scaling our constellation as we grow. Success in this role means enabling your team to deliver high-quality, dependable software; ensuring operational excellence; communicating effectively across disciplines; and supporting engineers in developing their careers while fostering a collaborative, mission-focused environment.

Requirements

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++), with the ability to provide architectural guidance and review complex designs.
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 with operational dependencies.
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.

Nice To Haves

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

Responsibilities

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, ensuring engineering efforts stay aligned with business goals, customer commitments, and mission operations.
Partner with operations, communication engineering, flight software, mission planning, product, and program leadership to clarify requirements, align priorities, and maintain a strong end‑to‑end understanding of system behavior.
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, including incident response, root‑cause analysis, and long-term corrective actions.
Drive roadmap planning, resource allocation, and execution across multiple projects, balancing rapid iteration with long‑term reliability and availability.
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.
Other responsibilities as assigned.

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 (pro-rated based on hire date), 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